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RN   PUNCTUATION 

Its  Utilities  and  Conventions 


Associate  Profes  so 
Formerly . 


UMMEY,  JR, 

in  the  North  Carolina  State  College 
r  of  the  North  Carolina  Reyiew 


Submitted  in  Partic 
ts  for  the 

in  the  Faculty  of  Pld 


OXFO 


LONDON,   TORONTO 


RESS 

32WD  SlRKi'T 

AND  BOMB  AIT 


All  rights 


MODERN    PUNCTUATION 

Its  Utilities  and  Conventions 


MODERN   PUNCTUATION 

Its  Utilities  and  Conventions 


BY 


GEORGE   SUMMEY,  JR. 

Associate  Professor  of  English  in  the  North  Carolina  State  College 
Formerly  Managing  Editor  of  the  North  Carolina  Review 


Submitted  in  Partial  Fulfilment  of  the 
Requirements  for  the  Degree  of  Doctor  of  Philosophy, 
in  the  Faculty  of  Philosophy,   Columbia   University 


NEW  YORK 
OXFORD  UNIVERSITY  PRESS 

AMERICAN  BRANCH:  35  WEST  32ND  STREET 

LONDON,   TORONTO,  MELBOURNE,   AND  BOMBAY 

1919 

All  rightt  reserved 


COPTKIGHT   1910 
BY  THB 

OXFOHD  UNIVERSITY  PRESS 
AMERICAN  BRANCH 


TO 
ALBERT  T.    SUMMEY 

OF  THE   105TH  ENGINEERS,   AMERICAN 
EXPEDITIONARY  FORCES 


PREFACE 

THIS  book  is  an  attempt  to  set  forth  the  essential  facts  of 
contemporary  usage  in  punctuation,  together  with  the  con- 
siderations applicable  in  the  choice  and  management  of 
points.  For  matters  where  uniformity  is  essential,  there 
are  satisfactory  current  books  by  expert  printers  like  the 
late  Mr.  Theodore  Low  De  Vinne ;  but  there  has  been  no 
adequate  recent  account  of  structural  pointing — the  use 
of  points  that  have  to  be  employed  not  according  to  any 
existing  or  possible  set  of  rules  but  according  to  individual 
circumstances.  The  so-called  rules  of  punctuation,  as  a 
general  code  for  all  conditions,  have  not  worked.  There 
are  questions  of  structural  pointing  that  cannot  be  rightly 
settled  without  consideration  of  such  circumstances  as  the 
progress  of  thought  in  the  paragraph,  the  use  of  a  given 
point  in  the  context,  or  the  occurrence  of  a  structural 
boundary  at  a  line-end  rather  than  within  the  line. 

As  the  facts  of  punctuation  are  of  infinite  number,  it  has 
seemed  desirable  to  concentrate  attention  upon  practice 
in  recent  American-printed  books  and  American  periodi- 
cals. With  a  few  exceptions  the  books  cited  as  examples 
of  modern  practice  ar>3  of  dates  not  earlier  than  1900 ;  the 
periodicals  cited  are  of  the  years  1917  and  1918.  There 
is  an  abundance  of  matter  earlier  than  1900  or  1917  quite 
as  well  written  and  punctuated,  but  for  the  present  pur- 
pose it  is  safest  to  set  limits  that  will  allow  for  any  changes 
brought  about  by  the  general  use  of  typewriters  and  typo- 
graphical machines.  Except  where  the  contrary  is  indi- 
cated, the  examples  are  from  works  within  the  limits 

vii 


viii  Preface 

mentioned.  In  all  extracts  the  original  styles  have  been 
carefully  followed  in  spelling,  pointing,  and  capitalization, 
except  that  in  a  few  cases  small  capitals  have  been  set 
lower-case.  As  a  matter  of  course,  styles  of  extracts  are 
not  always  in  agreement  with  the  styles  used  in  the  text. 

Aside  from  the  obligations  acknowledged  in  the  text  or 
not  capable  of  being  specially  acknowledged,  the  author 
is  under  special  indebtedness  to  his  wife  for  constant  help 
with  material  and  manuscript;  to  his  father,  the  Rev.  Dr. 
George  Summey  of  New  Orleans,  for  suggestions  and  ma- 
terial; to  Lawrence  E.  Nichols,  Esq.,  of  Raleigh,  for 
technical  information  about  printing;  to  Dr.  C.  Alphonso 
Smith  of  the  United  States  Naval  Academy  for  a  sugges- 
tion regarding  punctuation  and  the  paragraph;  to  the 
readers  of  the  Quinn  and  Boden  Company  Press  for  hints 
regarding  word-division  and  typographical  styles;  and  to 
Professors  George  Philip  Krapp,  W.  W.  Lawrence,  Harry 
Morgan  Ayres,  and  H.  R.  Steeves — all  of  Columbia  Uni- 
versity— for  their  kindness  in  reading  the  manuscript. 
Mr.  Krapp 's  searching  and  friendly  criticism  has  been 
particularly  valuable. 

So  far  as  any  of  the  opinions  here  set  forth  are  mis- 
taken, the  author  hopes  in  the  interest  of  good  teaching, 
good  writing,  and  good  printing  that  the  necessary  criti- 
cism may  be  forthcoming.  Unquestionably  there  is  need 
for  a  better  understanding  of  an  a^rt — an  art  and  not  a 
code — which  is  practiced  blindly  or  intelligently  by  all  who 
speak  through  pen  or  type. 

GEORGE  SUMMEY,  JR. 
WEST  RALEIGH,  NORTH  CAROLINA 
January  13,  1919 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER 

I.    INTRODUCTION 

II.    THE  NATURE  OF  PUNCTUATION  .... 

III.  THE  PROBLEMS  OF  PUNCTUATION 

IV.  PARAGRAPH    AND    SENTENCE    POINTING — THE 

POINTING  OF  MAIN  CLAUSES  .... 
I.    Paragraph  Pointing    .... 

II.    Sentence  Pointing 

III.    The  Pointing  of  Main  Clauses  . 
V.    THE    POINTING    OF    RESTRICTIVE    AND    NON- 
RESTRICTIVE,  PRELIMINARY,  PARENTHETICAL, 
AND  "AFTERTHOUGHT"  MATTER     .       .       . 
I.    Limiting  and  Modifying  Elements  . 
II.    Preliminary,       Intermediate,       and 
"Afterthought"  Matter 

VI.   SERIES,   SPECIAL  GROUPING,  AND  "ELLIPSIS" 

POINTING 

I.    The  Pointing  of  Series 
II.    Pointing  for  Special  Grouping,  Sus- 
pension, or  Special  Emphasis 
III.    Ellipsis  Pointing         .... 

VII.   QUOTATION,    ETYMOLOGICAL,    AND    REFERENCE 

POINTING 

I.    The  Pointing  of  Quotations 
II.    A  Note  on  Capitals  and  Italic 

III.  Abbreviation      and      Etymological 

Pointing 

IV.  Pointing  for  Reference 

ix 


x  Contents 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

VIII.   THE    INDIVIDUAL    STRUCTURAL    POINTS,    AND 

POINTS  IN  COMBINATION 180 

I.   The  Period 181 

II.    The  Question  Mark     .       .       .       .185 

III.  The  Exclamation  Mark      .       .     *  .  189 

IV.  The  Colon 192 

V.    The  Semicolon 197 

VI.    The  Comma 205 

VII.    The  Dash 224 

VIII.    Curves 234 

IX.    Brackets 239 

IX.    SOME  TYPES  OF  PUNCTUATION     ....  241 

WORKS  LISTED  IN  TABLES  A,  B,  AND  C  .       .       .       .  257 

INDEX  259 


TERMS  USED  WITHOUT  ACCOMPANYING 
EXPLANATION 

Compounding  points.  Points  used  between  main  clauses  or 
the  equivalent  of  main  clauses. 

Compounding  hyphen.  The  hyphen  used  for  coinages  or 
half-coalesced  compounds.  The  division  hyphen  is  used 
between  parts  of  what  is  ordinarily  a  solid  word. 

Curves.     Marks  of  parenthesis  shaped  thus  (). 

Display.  Unless  the  context  indicates  the  contrary,  display 
will  mean  the  exhibition  of  grouping  or  meaning  by 
line  length,  white  space,  indention,  or  centering  of  lines. 
Display  matter  is  in  contrast  with  straight  body  matter. 

Em  dash,  en  dash,  two-em  dash.  Respectively  the  ordinary 
dash,  the  short  dash  used  in  expressions  like  1914-1918, 
and  the  double  dash. 

Group.  A  word  or  any  number  of  words  not  more  than 
a  sentence  and  not  checked,  save  at  beginning  or  end, 
by  a  punctuation  mark.  (Limitation  to  the  sentence  is 
arbitrary.)  With  indication  in  the  context,  the  term 
will  be  used  occasionally  without  the  limitations  noted. 

Index.  A  reference  mark  referring  to  a  footnote  or  ap- 
pendix note. 

Lower-case  letters.     Small  letters. 

Office  style.  Printing-office  practice  in  regard  to  capitals, 
points,  italic,  indexes,  etc. 

Open.  Not  set  off  by  punctuation.  (Sometimes  used,  but 
not  in  this  book,  to  mean  "light  or  economical  in 
pointing.") 

zi 


xii    Terms  Used  Without  Accompanying  Explanation 

Original  matter.  An  author's  own  words,  as  opposed  to 
quoted  matter. 

Parenthesis.  Used  of  structure.  The  points  usually  called 
parentheses  are  here  called  curves. 

Point,  pointed.     Punctuation  mark,  punctuated. 

Roman.  Koman  type;  perpendicular  type,  the  most  fa- 
miliar style  of  letter. 

Roman  quote.     In  roman  type  and  enclosed  in  quote  marks. 

Roman  open.  In  roman  type  and  not  enclosed  in  quote 
marks. 

Solid  matter.  Matter  not  leaded.  li Leading"  means  the 
insertion  of  metal  strips  between  lines  of  type  for  the 
sake  of  white  space.  Solid  typewritten  matter  is  some- 
times called  single-spaced. 

Structural  points.  Here  used  of  period,  question  and  ex- 
clamation marks,  colon,  semicolon,  comma,  dash  (except 
ellipsis  dash  and  en  dash),  and  curves. 

Superior  figures  or  letters.  Figures  or  letters  occupying 
the  upper  part  of  the  type  body,  with  white  space  show- 
ing below. 

Suspension.  Checking,  holding  attention,  carrying  the 
reader  over  intervening  parenthesis,  interruption 
whether  intended  or  not. 

Suspension  periods.  Translation  of  French  points  de  sus- 
pension. Periods,  usually  in  groups  of  three  and 
usually  spaced  in  English  text,  employed  not  to  mart 
ellipsis  from  a  quotation  but  to  suggest  an  interruption 
or  meditative  pause. 

Text.  Straight  matter,  as  opposed  to  extracts,  tables,  and 
footnotes. 


MODERN  PUNCTUATION 

CHAPTER  I 
INTRODUCTION 

A  HARVARD  professor  of  English,  the  author  of  a  well 
known  textbook  on  English  composition,  has  said  of  punc- 
tuation, "I  have  never  yet  come  across  a  book  on  the 
subject  which  did  not  leave  me  more  puzzled  than  it 
found  me." 

If  the  words  are  a  warning,  they  are  also  an  invitation. 
Punctuation  ought  to  be  understood,  because  it  is  bound 
up  with  the  important  social  art  of  communication  in 
writing.  And  it  need  be  no  more  mysterious  than  har- 
mony of  tone  or  color — matters  at  least  equally  difficult, 
yet  successfully  reduced  to  useful  theory. 

The  reasons  why  punctuation  is  so  commonly  not  under- 
stood, or  understood  wrong,  are  not  far  to  seek.  For  one 
thing,  textbook  writers  have  practically  divorced  punctua- 
tion from  its  relation  to  the  larger  units  of  composition. 
As  ordinarily  presented,  punctuation  is  concerned  almost 
exclusively  with  the  sentence.  It  is  commonly  set  forth 
by  aid  of  single  sentences  isolated  from  their  context. 

The  single-sentence  method  is  legitimate  only  in  a  meas- 
ure. There  are  numerous  questions  of  pointing  which 
can  be  settled  only  with  reference  to  groups  larger  than 
the  sentence.  Between  successive  statements  there  may 
be  a  full  stop,  a  comma,  a  semicolon,  sometimes  a  colon  or 


-    'Modern  Punctuation 

a.  dash;  and  therd  is  no  safe  choice  which  ignores  the 
meaning  and  movement  of  the  passage.  In  questions  of 
pointing,  relations  within  the  sentence  are  not  always 
decisive. 

The  current  rules,  moreover,  are  too  numerous  and  too 
rigid.  A  desk  book  in  wide  use  catalogues  twenty-three 
cases  in  which  the  comma  is  " required"  and  six  cases 
in  which  it  is  not  required.  Here  are  three  of  the 
twenty-three  prescriptions :  the  comma  is  required  to 
separate  parenthetical  expressions  from  the  context;  it  is 
required  in  cases  of  ellipsis;  it  is  required  " before  not, 
when  introducing  an  antithetical  clause."  But  what  are 
the  facts?  To  group  parenthetical  clauses,  commas  may  or 
may  not  be  required;  there  are  parenthetical  clauses  with 
curves  or  dashes,  and  some  not  pointed  at  all.  The  ellip- 
sis comma,  in  the  proper  sense  of  the  word  ellipsis,  is 
rare  and  usually  awkward.  Before  an  antithetical  clause 
beginning  with  not,  a  comma  is  often  unnecessary  or 
clumsy.  If  English  were  a  dead  language  like  Ciceronian 
Latin,  there  might  be  a  full  set  of  positive  rules;  but 
English  is  a  living  language. 

There  are  yet  other  misleading  rules  in  currency.  We 
are  told,  for  example,  that  "when  the  members  of  a  com- 
pound sentence  are  complex  in  construction  or  contain 
commas,"  one  must  use  a  semicolon.  The  rule  is  mis- 
leading because  too  general.  There  are  numerous  cases  in 
which  the  comma  is  a  sufficient  compounding  point  in  spite 
of  other  commas  in  either  or  both  of  the  clauses. 

According  to  another  tradition  repeated  in  recent  books, 
a  long  subject,  especially  if  an  infinitive  phrase  or  a 
group  ending  with  a  verb,  should  be  pointed  from  the 
predicate  by  a  comma.  There  are  cases  of  the  kind  even 
in  newspapers,  which  in  general  are  economical  of  points; 
but  the  rule  in  its  categorical  form  is  misleading.  Such 


Dead  Rules  for  Dead  English  3 

subjects  do  not  always  require  the  comma;  when  they  do, 
it  is  very  often  because  of  clumsy  construction. 

By  a  natural  association,  the  dead  rules  are  commonly 
illustrated  by  dead  specimens.  To  exemplify  the  law 
that  one  must  use  the  semicolon  between  sentence  mem- 
bers containing  commas,  a  current  book  gives  this: 

He  was  courteous,  not  cringing,  to  superiors;  affable,  but 
not  familiar,  to  equals;  and  kind,  but  not  condescending,  to 
inferiors. 

The  punctuation  fits  the  words;  but  since  nobody  to- 
day would  write  such  a  sentence,  the  example  and  rule 
seem  remote  from  life.  Such  a  sentence  ought  to  be  cited 
only  by  way  of  warning. 

There  is  a  widespread  and  wholesome  objection  to  any- 
thing in  words  or  pointing  that  suggests  stiffness  or 
self-consciousness.  Save  where  formality  is  in  order, 
written  English  has  approached  the  conversational  man- 
ner. In  punctuation  as  in  structure,  students  should  be 
taught  to  use  the  language  of  the  day.  But  too  often  they 
are  given  sets  of  rules  which  could  be  rigidly  applied 
only  to  dead  English. 

No  SINGLE  "WORKING  PRINCIPLE" 

According  to  one  recent  writer,  the  ' '  working  principle ' ' 
of  punctuation  is  emphasis.  Another  maintains  that  the 
fundamental  consideration  is  clearness.  Others  insist  on 
uniformity,  or  on  the  use  of  the  smallest  possible  variety 
of  points. 

Though  all  of  these  views  are  enlightening,  they  lack 
perspective.  Emphasis  needs  to  be  considered  in  ques- 
tions of  pointing,  but  as  a  single  working  principle  is  in- 
sufficient. Questions  of  emphasis  are  also  questions  of 


4  Modern  Punctuation 

clearness,  the  two  considerations  being  inseparable  in 
practice.  And  both  clearness  and  emphasis  are  essentially 
linked  with  usage.  A  period  is  effective  as  a  signal  of 
completion  for  the  sentence  because  it  is  a  customary  mark 
for  the  purpose. 

There  is  no  single  working  principle.  In  cases  of  punc- 
tuation it  is  necessary  to  apply  one  or  more  of  several  con- 
siderations. There  are  questions  of  custom,  clearness, 
emphasis,  movement,  economy,  variety — sometimes  even  of 
appearance  on  the  page.  By  force  of  custom,  points  are 
signals  which  indicate  certain  relations.  At  the  same  time 
they  are  suspensive  marks  which  check  movement  and  sug- 
gest certain  weights  of  emphasis.  Even  the  consideration 
of  variety  is  important.  Noticeably  monotonous  pointing 
is  a  symptom  of  lifeless  structure. 

To  experienced  writers  who  do  their  own  pointing,  all 
of  this  is  familiar.  They  know  how  to  punctuate  clearly, 
economically,  and  effectively  for  their  purposes.  They 
also  know  that  good  pointing  depends  on  good  structure. 
But  nobody  has  recently  taken  the  trouble  to  put  this 
knowledge  into  accessible  form. 

Two  RULING  TRADITIONS 

The  current  textbooks  and  chapters  on  punctuation  are 
still  governed  by  two  traditions,  both  of  them  legislative 
and  formalistic.  The  formulation  of  theory  has  been  left 
almost  exclusively  to  printers  and  to  writers  of  school 
textbooks.  Their  most  prominent  -aim  has  been  ' '  correct- 
ness"; their  method  has  been  prescription. 

If  properly  understood,  correctness  is  of  course  a  legiti- 
mate aim.  It  implies,  for  one  thing,  the  use  of  marks 
within  the  limits  of  general  and  special  conventions.  But 
when  applied  to  matters  of  art,  "  correctness "  is  mislead- 


Office  and  Schoolbook  Rules  5 

ing.  It  is  safer  to  speak  of  utility  or  accuracy.  Accuracy 
in  pointing  of  course  requires  the  writer  to  keep  safely 
within  convention;  but  it  also  means  the  use  of  marks  in 
such  a  way  as  to  indicate  the  writer's  meaning  clearly, 
with  accurate  emphasis,  and  with  whatever  tone  and  move- 
ment may  be  suitable  to  the  occasion.  The  fact  is  theoreti- 
cally familiar;  but  the  notion  that  there  is  an  absolute 
rule  for  every  case  is  still  firmly  entrenched. 

Printers  are  business  men,  often  artists  as  \vell,  who 
wish  to  produce  satisfactory  typographical  work  at  a 
profit.  Their  concern  is  not  with  literary  but  with  typo- 
graphical composition.  They  seek  correctness,  consistency, 
and  intelligibility,  but  manifestly  cannot  assume  the 
writer's  functions  any  more  than  is  necessary  to  the  repu- 
tation of  the  office.  If  printers  are  required  to  do  half  the 
pointing,  they  are  not  to  be  blamed  for  making  rules  which 
will  roughly  serve  for  average  cases.  The  more  definite  the 
rules,  when  copy  is  defective,  the  less  waste  of  time  and 
capital.  But  printers'  rules  are  not  invariable  laws  for 
writers;  nor  do  the  current  style  books  attempt  to  set 
forth  the  rhetorical  aspects  of  punctuation  in  any  compre- 
hensive way.  Printers  lay  stress  on  consistency  and  good 
design;  naturally  enough  they  leave  to  the  writer  the 
finer  distinctions  of  emphasis  and  meaning. 

Textbooks  for  students  of  English  composition  have 
lately  treated  punctuation  less  dogmatically;  but  some 
repeat  obsolete  rules,  and  nearly  all  ignore  a  matter  of  the 
first  importance — the  relation  of  pointing  to  the  meaning  of 
the  paragraph.  Instead  of  associating  the  use  of  points 
with  the  larger  units,  they  have  commonly  given  a  series  of 
rules  with  isolated  sentences  for  examples.  And  too  often 
the  rules  are  rigid  prescriptions  which  take  insufficient  ac- 
count of  permissible  and  useful  alternatives.  A  strict 
rule  which  may  be  harmlessly  applied  to  a  sentence  out  of 


6  Modern  Punctuation 

action  may  conceal  the  fact  that  pointing  varies  according 
to  meaning.  As  every  passage  has  an  individual  structure 
and  tone,  questions  of  pointing  are  in  a  measure  questions 
of  art  which  must  be  settled  by  cases.  A  textbook  can  list 
the  customary  ways  of  handling  typical  groups,  and  even 
describe  the  effects  of  the  different  punctuation  marks ;  but 
the  pointing  of  a  sentence  in  action  is  a  special  case  which 
may  have  to  be  settled  on  the  spot. 

The  relation  between  punctuation  and  the  larger  units 
of  composition  has  been  obscured  by  an  innocent  faith  in 
syntax.  The  doctrine  has  been  held  that  problems  of  point- 
ing may  be  settled  by  a  series  of  rules  for  sentences,  main 
clauses,  and  minor  subordinate  units.  "When  in  doubt  as 
to  what  mark  of  punctuation  to  use, ' '  says  a  certain  manual 
of  punctuation,  the  reader  "has  but  to  determine  the 
grammatical  construction  of  the  part  of  the  sentence  in 
question,  then  turn  to  the  rule  much  the  same  as  he  would 
turn  to  a  word  in  the  dictionary." 

The  scheme  is  convenient  and  simple,  but  unsafe.  A 
group  like  of  course  or  not  by  any  means  may  properly  be 
set  as  a  main  clause  or  as  a  sentence.  A  participial  phrase 
may  happen  to  be  best  treated  as  if  a  main  clause,  a  sub- 
ordinate clause  may  take  rank  as  a  main  clause  or  even  as  a 
sentence.  There  may  be  need  of  classroom  rules  to  the 
contrary,  but  such  rules  are  special  and  temporary.  In 
good  writing  elliptical  expressions  are  far  from  uncommon. 

Punctuation  is  not  a  matter  of  mechanical  correctness; 
it  is  an  art.  It  is  related  to  syntax,  but  of  course  for  the 
sake  of  communication.  It  is  kept  within  limits  by  usage, 
but  within  these  limits  is  freely  adaptable  to  circumstances. 
The  sooner  these  facts  are  recognized,  the  sooner  is  there 
an  end  of  perplexity  about  the  "rules  of  punctuation." 
So  far  as  they  are  a  correct  statement  of  what  is  customary 
and  useful,  they  are  valid.  But  so  far  as  they  are  narrowly 


John  Wilson's  Treatise  7 

mechanical,  and  so  far  as  they  induce  rigidity  of  style,  let 
us  have  done  with  them. 


CURRENT  WORKS  ON  PUNCTUATION 

Of  the  numerous  works  dealing  with  punctuation,  it  is 
necessary  here  to  name  only  a  few,  and  none  more  than 
twenty  years  old  except  the  great  nineteenth  century 
authority,  Wilson's  Treatise  on  English  Punctuation.  Most 
of  the  current  books  and  chapters  are  either  secondary 
and  misleading  or  else  too  restricted  in  purpose  to  require 
examination  here.  Aside  from  Wilson's  Treatise,  a  thor- 
ough book  which  is  still  freely  cited  either  directly  or  in- 
directly by  most  writers  on  punctuation,  it  is  necessary  to 
list  only  those  recent  books  and  articles  which  contain 
original  matter  or  which  give  rules  framed  by  competent 
authorities  for  the  use  of  compositors  and  proofreaders. 
Such  rules,  though  too  rigid  for  authors  who  do  their  own 
pointing,  are  of  course  worthy  of  respect  as  opinions  even 
when  they  cannot  be  accepted  as  binding  laws.  With 
regard  to  typographical  design  and  to  matters  requiring 
uniformity,  the  standard  printers'  manuals  are  of  course 
the  best  available  authority. 

The  traditionally  standard  textbook  is  the  Treatise  on 
English  Punctuation  by  John  Wilson,  an  able  and  scholarly 
printer  who  died  in  1868.  The  first  edition  of  this  work, 
based  on  an  earlier  and  smaller  book  (1826),  was  issued  in 
1844.  A  second  edition  appeared  in  1850,  and  more  than 
thirty  editions  or  reissues  subsequently.  The  thirty-second 
edition  now  current  is  merely  a  reprint  of  the  twentieth, 
which  appeared  in  1871,  three  years  after  the  author's 
death. 

Wilson's  treatise  is  a  careful  and  elaborate  work,  under 
constant  revision  during  the  author's  lifetime,  and  worthy 


8  Modern  Punctuation 

of  the  great  respect  it  has  enjoyed.    As  recently  as  1915 
Mr.  C.  H.  Ward  (page  14  below)  said  of  Wilson: 

His  supplementary  exposition  is  always  clear  and  thorough. 
He  maintains  (what  custom  later  overruled,  but  has  now  returned 
to)  that  the  second  comma  should  be  used  in  John,  James,  and 
Harry.  He  perceived  that  a  comma  ought  not  to  be  placed  be- 
tween a  subject  and  its  verb;  and  he  is  sustained  by  the  best 
modern  usage.  He  announces  (though  he  cannot  disregard  the 
universal  opinion  of  his  day)  that  punctuation  has  for  its  pri- 
mary function  the  displaying  of  grammatical  structure.  Verbose 
and  tiresome  he  may  be,  but  his  system  is  complete  and  unim- 
peachable. 

But  despite  its  originality  and  thoroughness,  Wilson's 
treatise  is  no  longer  a  practical  book.  In  both  text  and 
illustration  it  represents  standards  of  practice  which  are 
in  part  obsolete.  The  following  sentences  from  page  30 
of  the  twenty-eighth  edition  illustrate  the  elaborate  point- 
ing used  in  the  text  of  the  book.  The  passage  is  an  extreme 
case,  but  surprising  even  so. 

In  nouns,  we  think,  the  comma  is  usually  required,  to  show 
that  the  terms,  which  might  otherwise  be  regarded  as  significant 
of  two  ideas  or  things,  are  designed  to  represent  only  one  and 
the  same;  but  the  pointing  of  adjectives  and  adverbs  similarly 
situated  would,  in  many  cases,  tend,  by  the  breaking-up  of  the 
connection,  to  confuse,  instead  of  assisting,  the  reader.  Besides, 
it  should  be  remembered  that  qualifying  words  are  seldom,  if 
ever,  perfectly  synonymous;  and  that,  even  if  they  were  exactly 
of  the  same  signification,  the  omission  of  the  commas  could 
scarcely  affect  the  sense. 

/t  is  significant  that  in  the  first  fifty  sentences  of  Chapter 
I  (the  Introduction,  straight  matter  with  few  extracts) 
there  are  233  interior  points  in  addition  to  the  50  terminal 
points — an  average  of  5.66  points  per  sentence.  In  modern 


"Grammatical  and  Rhetorical"  9 

American  newspaper  editorials  the  average  number  per 
sentence,  terminal  points  included,  is  well  under  2.5. 
Even  in  books,  which  as  a  rule  are  more  elaborately  pointed 
than  editorials,  an  average  above  3  per  sentence  is  ex- 
ceptional. (See  Table  A,  page  243  below.) 

The  division  in  Wilson's  treatise  is  into  " grammatical 
points"  (comma,  semicolon,  colon,  period),  "grammatical 
and  rhetorical  points "  (interrogation  and  exclamation 
points,  marks  of  parenthesis,  and  dash),  "letter,  syllabic, 
and  quotation  points"  (apostrophe,  hyphen,  quotation 
marks),  and  "miscellaneous  marks,"  the  last  category  in- 
cluding brackets,  reference  marks,  and  miscellaneous  signs. 
Besides  the  chapters  on  the  marks  so  classified,  there  is  an 
introductory  account  of  "the  importance  and  uses  of  cor- 
rect punctuation."  Capitals,  italic,  abbreviations,  and 
other  typographical  matters  are  included  in  an  appendix. 

"Rhetorical"  is  used  with  reference  to  delivery.  In 
the  chapter  on  Grammatical  and  Rhetorical  Points  Wilson 
says  (page  153)  : 

In  classifying  these  points  as  both  grammatical  and  rhetori- 
cal, we  mean  to  imply,  not  that  those  which  have  come  under 
consideration  afford  no  facilities  in  delivery,  but  that  the  Marks 
of  Interrogation,  Exclamation,  and  Parenthesis,  and  the  Dash, 
have  a  more  direct  bearing  on  that  art. 

But  in  respect  to  "elocutionary  pointing"  Wilson  was 
wiser  than  his  generation.  He  says  on  page  17: 

But,  on  the  whole,  it  will  be  found  that  the  art  of  Punctuation 
is  founded  rather  on  grammar  than  on  rhetoric;  that  its  chief 
aim  is  to  unfold  the  meaning  of  sentences,  with  the  least  trouble 
to  the  reader;  and  that  it  aids  the  delivery,  only  in  so  far  as  it 
tends  to  bring  out  the  sense  of  the  writer  to  the  best  advantage. 

The  more  important  recent  books  and  articles  on  punc- 
tuation are  as  follows: 


10  Modern  Punctuation 

THEODORE  L.  DE  VINNE.  Correct  Composition.  (In  a 
series  of  volumes  with  the  general  title  The  Practice  of 
Typography.)  The  Century  Company,  New  York,  1901; 
second  edition,  1904. 

Especially  useful  for  information  about  quotations,  white 
space,  typographical  design,  hyphenation,  and  the  rhe- 
torical or  artistic  side  of  typography.  The  treatment  of 
structural  punctuation  is  brief,  and  is  intended  mainly 
for  compositors.  There  is  little  discussion  of  options  in 
the  use  of  points. 

As  Mr.  De  Vinne  was  at  once  a  scholar  and  a  master 
printer,  his  briefly  expressed  opinions  in  regard  to  the 
rhetoric  of  punctuation  are  unusually  competent  authority. 

T.  F.  and  M.  F.  A.  HUSBAND.  Punctuation:  Its  Prin- 
ciples and  Practice.  George  Eoutledge  &  Sons,  London, 
1905. 

Part  I  contains  an  account  of  the  history  of  punctuation 
and  of  the  older  books  on  the  use  of  points.  The  arrange- 
ment of  Part  II,  on  modern  punctuation,  is  by  points  rather 
than  by  functions.  The  authors  have  given  a  separate 
chapter  to  the  period  and  two  chapters  to  the  comma,  but 
have  grouped  together  the  interrogation  and  exclamation 
marks  (Chapter  VI),  the  semicolon  and  colon  (Chapter 
IX),  and  the  dash,  marks  of  parenthesis,  and  inverted 
commas  (Chapter  X).  Except  for  clearness,  the  rhetorical 
considerations  applied  to  options  in  pointing  receive  inade- 
quate notice. 

WENDELL  PHILLIPS  GARRISON.  A  Dissolving  View  of 
Punctuation.  Atlantic  Monthly,  August,  1906. 

A  discursive  essay  pointing  out  the  alternative  use  of 
marks  for  parenthesis  and  other  constructions.  It  does 
not  attempt  exhaustive  treatment  of  any  mark  or  any 
kind  of  structure. 


"Quantitative  Punctuation"  11 

J.  D.  LOGAN.  Quantitative  Punctuation.  A  New  Prac- 
tical Method  Based  on  the  Evolution  of  the  Literary  Sen- 
tence in  Modern  English  Prose.  Toronto,  1907. 

Our  method  is  founded  on  two  facts — (1)  that  the  English 
literary  sentence  has  evolved  virtually  into  the  quantity  and 
form  of  spoken  English,  and  (2)  that  punctuation  is  essentially 
a  function  of  the  quantity  of  sentences. 

The  whole  problem  of  punctuation  resolves  itself  into  formulat- 
ing a  simple  body  of  rules  for  the  use  of  the  comma. 

Elsewhere  he  says,  despite  his  opinion  regarding  the 
11  simple  body  of  rules  for  the  comma,"  that  punctuation 
could  be  best  taught  ' '  by  ignoring  all  rules  and  by  making 
punctuation  a  function  of  the  structure  (or  quantity)  of 
sentences. ' ' 

I  discovered  that  as  the  quantity  (length)  of  the  English 
literary  sentence  decreased,  necessarily  the  number  of  points  of 
punctuation  underwent  a  change  in  nature  and  number,  until  in 
the  best  literature  of  to-day  there  seldom  appear  more  than 
three  points,  namely,  the  comma,  the  period,  and  the  mark  of 
interrogation.  This  happens  all  because  the  structure  of  literary 
English  to-day  approximates  to  the  quantity  and  form  of  spoken 
English.  .  .  . 

Mr.  Logan  banishes  to  an  appendix  the  uses  of  the  semi- 
colon, colon,  and  dash;  but  in  his  own  text  he  does  not 
scruple  to  use  the  exclamation  mark,  colon  and  dash 
together,  comma  and  dash  together,  and  curves.  The  book 
is  intended  not  as  a  record  of  usage  but  as  a  method  "for 
practical  purposes  in  a  definitively  practical  age." 

Mr.  Logan  is  correct  in  his  observation  that  pointing  has 
felt  the  lightening  of  the  English  literary  sentence.  But 
punctuation  is  not  a  function  of  sentence  quantity  only; 
it  is  also  a  function  of  emphasis.  For  example,  dashes  are 


12  Modern  Punctuation 

sometimes  used  at  places  where  structure  does  not  or- 
dinarily call  for  points  of  any  kind ;  and  there  are  numerous 
options  which  involve  questions  of  emphasis. 

The  statement  that  in  the  best  literature  of  today  ' '  there 
seldom  appear  more  than  three  points,  namely,  the  comma, 
the  period,  and  the  mark  of  interrogation"  is  misleading. 
Mr.  Logan  ignores  the  fact  that  question  marks  are  usually 
outnumbered  by  both  dashes  and  semicolons.  It  would 
not  do  to  say  that  either  dashes  or  semicolons  are  only 
' '  seldom ' '  found  in  the  writings  of  Miss  Agnes  Repplier,  or 
Mr.  Harvey  of  the  North  American  Review,  or  Messrs. 
Arnold  Bennett,  G.  K.  Chesterton,  Irvin  Cobb,  Meredith 
Nicholson,  Stuart  P.  Sherman,  John  Galsworthy,  or  the 
gentlemen  who  write  editorials  for  the  Saturday  Evening 
Post — not  a  list  of  "best  writers "  but  one  which  includes 
competent  writers  of  several  kinds.  Temperateness  in 
punctuation  does  not  consist  in  avoiding  the  colon,  the  semi- 
colon, the  dash,  or  even  the  exclamation  point.  An  average 
of  more  than  three  structural  points  per  sentence  in  or- 
dinary matter  is  exceptional;  but  the  average  is  likely  to 
contain  eight  or  ten  per  cent  of  marks  other  than  the  three 
Mr.  Logan  mentions. 

R.  D.  MILLER.  Coordination  and  the  Comma.  Publica- 
tions of  the  Modern  Language  Association,  vol.  23,  1908, 
pp.  316-328. 

A  competent  account  of  the  two-clause  compound  sen- 
tence with  comma  in  nineteenth  century  English  prose. 
Mr.  Miller's  distinction  between  " grammatical' '  and 
" logical"  connectives  is  used  in  the  section  on  the  pointing 
of  main  clauses,  Chapter  IV  below. 

PERCY  SIMPSON.  Shakespearean  Punctuation.  The 
Clarendon  Press,  Oxford,  1911. 


Elizabethan  Punctuation  13 

According  to  Mr.  Simpson's  thesis,  the  old  system  of 
pointing,  as  exemplified  in  the  First  Folio  and  in  the  1609 
text  of  the  Sonnets,  was  not  ignorant  or  haphazard,  but 
flexible  and  mainly  rhythmical.  ' '  The  punctuation,  which 
is  usually  regarded  as  the  weakest  point  in  the  printing 
of  the  Folio,  I  believe  to  be  on  the  whole  sound  and  reason- 
able" (page  15). 

For  students  of  modern  punctuation,  as  opposed  to  tex- 
tual criticism,  the  chief  point  of  interest  is  what  Mr.  Simp- 
son says  of  the  change  from  a  free  to  a  systematic  and 
logical  method. 

The  fact  is  that  English  punctuation  has  radically  changed  in 
the  last  three  hundred  years.  Modern  punctuation  is,  or  at  any 
rate  attempts  to  be,  logical;  the  earlier  system  was  mainly 
rhythmical. 

The  difference  is  evident;  but  a  safer  statement  would 
be  that  in  modern  practice  the  points  are  more  distinctly 
specialized,  are  used  more  systematically  in  relation  to 
syntactical  divisions,  and  usually  serve  logical  and  rhyth- 
mical functions  at  the  same  time.  Points  are  sometimes 
used  today  to  mark  interruption,  hesitation,  or  special 
emphasis;  but  though  most  points  in  modern  writing  are 
intended  for  logical  grouping,  they  have  effects  on  move- 
ment, whatever  the  writer's  intention. 

It  is  clear,  for  example,  that  in  cases  of  parenthesis  com- 
mas do  not  suggest  the  same  rhythmical  effect  as  curves  or 
dashes;  that  the  compounding  semicolon  is  not  the  same 
in  effect  as  the  comma,  even  when  the  comma  may  make 
the  logical  relation  clear;  that  quote  marks  affect  move- 
ment by  emphasis  and  by  suggesting  a  resemblance  to 
syntactical  breaks.  Even  the  hyphen  influences  move- 
ment by  effecting  a  shift  of  accent,  as  in  some  of  Carlyle's 


14  Modern  Punctuation 

coinages.     Modern   pointing   groups   words   for   clearness 
and  emphasis,  with  inevitable  effect  upon  movement. 

C.  H.  WARD.  "Punctator  Gingriens" :  A  Call  to  Arms. 
English  Journal,  September,  1915,  pp.  451-457. 

Mr.  Ward's  article  is  an  admirable  criticism  of  Wilson's 
Treatise  on  Punctuation  and  of  its  minor  successors,  the 
" sections"  on  punctuation  which  for  most  students  and 
many  teachers  are  unimpeached  authority. 

In  the  first  place,  where  do  we  get  our  knowledge  of  punctua- 
tion?   From  school  textbooks.     Where  did  the  writers  get  their 
knowledge  ?    From  earlier  textbooks.     If  we  follow  up  this  cas-  ' 
cade,  what  source  do  we  reach?    John  Wilson's  Treatise  of  1871. 

The  twentieth  edition  of  the  Treatise,  brought  out  three  years 
after  his  death,  is  the  great  storehouse  which  every  succeeding 
text-maker  has  pillaged  without  acknowledgment — often,  no 
doubt,  plundering  at  second  or  third  hand,  and  so  not  even  being 
aware  whence  his  booty  had  originally  come. 

Part  of  Mr.  Ward's  comment  on  the  quality  of  Wilson's 
work  has  been  quoted  on  a  previous  page. 

In  Mr.  Ward's  view  the  best  models  of  punctuation  are 
to  be  found  in  editorial  writing. 

As  for  the  weeklies,  if  you  have  never  thought  of  them  as 
fit  guides  in  your  aesthetic  vocation,  begin  today  to  regard  them 
as  such.  Their  principles  of  pointing  have  been  elaborated  with 
a  care,  a  wideness  of  information,  a  knowledge  of  typographic 
evolution,  a  love  of  propriety  that  mere  teachers  have  no  con- 
ception of.  The  men  who  formulate  the  system  are  most  con- 
servative; yet  they  have  been  eager  to  progress  toward  clearness; 
they  have  labored  toward — and  have  all  but  achieved — uniformity. 

Of  certain  textbooks  for  students  Mr.  Ward  remarks : 

A  capital  book  issued  in  1912,  full  of  first-hand  material,  still 
announces  that  one  of  the  uses  of  the  semicolon  is  to  introduce, 


Authors,  Professors,  Publishers  15 

and  that  a  comma  is  employed  to  show  the  omission  of  a  word. 
Both  uses  are  so  hopelessly  moribund  that  "authority"  for  them 
doesn't  signify.  Another  manual,  bearing  three  mighty  names, 
requires  a  comma  to  separate  a  "long"  subject  from  its  verb — 
a  pernicious  principle  and  almost  a  dead  one. 

With  regard  to  the  influence  of  authors  upon  pointing, 
Mr.  Ward's  opinion  is  interesting  but  extreme. 

Authors  have  never  made  the  least  contribution  to  the  art. 
(Don't  be  offended  by  the  rashness  of  such  a  sweeping  negative. 
Ponder  the  statement  calmly  for  several  months  before  denying 
it.)  No  impression  is  more  consistently  conveyed  by  our  Compo- 
sitions than  that  we  refer  to  literature  for  the  standard  of  punc- 
tuation in  the  same  way  that  we  do  for  diction  and  syntax. 
"Some  writers"  do  thus  and  so,  we  are  told.  What  "some 
writers"  do  is  not  of  the  least  importance.  The  vast  majority  of 
them  are  following  as  best  they  can  a  system  that  other  authors 
never  originated.  If  some  of  them  do  peculiar  things,  it  is  crimi- 
nal to  call  the  attention  of  secondary  students  to  their  oddities. 
That  system  has  always  been  devised  and  amended,  not  by  authors 
or  professors,  but  by  publishers. 

It  is  quite  true  that  punctuation  is  practically  the  crea- 
tion of  publishers.  From  Nicolas  Jenson  and  Aldus  Manu- 
tius  to  Joseph  Moxon,  from  Moxon  to  Wilson  and  De  Vinne, 
the  greatest  influence  for  conservatism  and  for  progress 
has  been  exerted  by  printers  and  publishers.  But  is  it  cer- 
tain that  neither  "authors  nor  professors"  have  had  any 
influence  at  all  ?  Is  it  publishers  that  have  introduced  sus- 
pension periods  to  the  American  public  in  novels,  magazine 
articles,  advertisements,  and  moving-picture  screens  ?  The 
influence  of  authors  or  professors  has  been  felt  in  the  ob- 
stinacy of  certain  obsessions,  probably  in  the  extended  use 
of  the  dash,  certainly  in  the  use  of  the  hyphen.  De  Vinne 
says  of  hyphenation  (Correct  Composition,  p.  6)  :  "All 


16  Modern  Punctuation 

the  changes  begin  with  writers.  Dictionary  makers  (Web- 
ster excepted)  claim  that  they  do  not  originate  changes, 
and  that  they  record  only  those  that  have  been  generally 
accepted." 

Stripped  of  its  universality,  Mr.  Ward's  contention  is 
right.  So  far  as  uniformity  is  in  order,  a  working  code 
for  ordinary  use  should  be  based  on  the  practice  of  good 
editors  and  publishers.  But  the  possibilities  of  uniformity 
can  easily  be  exaggerated.  Though  the  pointing  of  an 
isolated  two-clause  sentence  may  be  subjected  to  a  fixed 
rule,  the  same  words  may  be  used  in  such  context  as  to 
require  quite  different  pointing.  This  matter  will  neces- 
sarily be  mentioned  repeatedly  in  subsequent  chapters. 

Concerning  the  value  of  proper  instruction  in  punctua- 
tion, Mr.  Ward  speaks  his  mind  emphatically : 

Any  teacher  who  has  labored  systematically  to  teach  the  prin- 
ciples of  punctuation,  who  has  fought  vigorously  and  waged  war 
for  years,  knows  that  nothing  else  he  can  do  produces  a  tithe 
of  such  fundamental  benefit. 

CONSTANCE  M.  ROURKE.  The  Rationale  of  Punctuation. 
Educational  Review,  vol.  50  (October,  1915),  pp.  246ff. 

A  suggestive  article  in  which  emphasis  is  offered  as  the 
working  principle  of  punctuation.  Miss  Rourke  objects  to 
the  "is  used"  formula  and  to  the  custom  of  presenting 
punctuation  by  syntactical  rules  with  detached  sentences 
for  illustration. 

The  rules  are  given:  the  student  must  first  memorize  them. 
When  he  writes  he  must  reduce  the  forms  of  his  expression  to  their 
grammatical  construction,  and  then  punctuate  or  not  according 
to  their  conformity  to  the  types  named  in  his  text.  The  whole 
abstract  process  lies  definitely  apart  from  the  natural  creative 
expression  which  training  in  writing  might  be  expected  to  cul- 


EmpTiasis  aM  Clearness  17 

tivate ;  its  best  success  can  only  be  a  hardening  of  further  practise 
within  certain  unusual  forms. 

His  [the  student's]  final  method  in  punctuation  will  be  at  once 
simpler  and  more  complex  than  if  he  followed  the  present-day 
rhetorics.  It  will  be  simpler  because  instead  of  abstract,  often 
obscure  and  ambiguous  rules,  he  has  in  hand  a  working  principle, 
that  of  emphasis,  whose  variations  are  likewise  simple  and  nat- 
ural. It  will  be  more  complex  because  he  must  always  discover 
the  changing  demands  of  the  ideas,  facts,  or  feelings  which  he 
wishes  to  express;  his  pointing  must  be  conditioned  by  the  im- 
mediate and  often  complex  substance  of  his  meaning.  He  can 
never  acquire  a  merely  mechanical  technique.  But  at  least  his 
problem  will  be  single;  he  will  be  wholly  concerned  with  expres- 
sion itself.  Punctuation  will  have  become  part  of  his  creative 
medium. 

S.  A.  LEONARD.  The  Rationale  of  Punctuation',  a  Criti- 
cism. Educational  Review,  vol.  51  (January,  1916),  pp. 
89-92. 

In  this  answer  to  Miss  Rourke's  essay,  Mr.  Leonard  cor- 
rectly maintains  that  emphasis  cannot  be  considered  a 
sufficient  guiding  principle.  In  his  view  the  dominant  con- 
sideration is  clearness.  He  says  of  punctuation : 

Is  not  its  principal  purpose,  then,  fullest  clearness :  to  obviate 
so  far  as  possible  any  misreading  of  the  sentence — to  fulfil  that 
aim  which  George  Meredith  beautifully  states  of  a  clear  style, 
that  it  "may  be  read  out  currently  at  a  first  glance"? 

It  is  obvious  that  clearness  and  emphasis  may  be  sepa- 
rated in  theory;  they  cannot  be  distinguished  in  practice. 
The  view  which  insists  on  emphasis  and  the  one  which  in- 
sists on  clearness  throw  light  on  two  sides  of  the  same 
thing. 

WILLIAM  LIVINGSTON  KLEIN.  Wliy  We  Punctuate;  or, 
Reason  versus  Rule  in  the  Use  of  Marks.  The  Lancet  Pub- 
lishing Company,  Minneapolis,  1916. 


18  Modern  Punctuation 

A  revision  of  a  work  ("By  a  Journalist")  published  in 
1896  under  the  game  quaint  title.  Mr.  Klein  emphasizes 
the  grouping  function  of  the  punctuation  marks,  insists  on 
reason  rather  than  convention,  and  treats  interrelated 
marks  together.  But  these  merits  are  counterbalanced  by 
the  use  of  puzzling  examples,  by  a  neglect  of  the  relation 
between  pointing  and  movement,  by  the  use  and  recom- 
mendation of  too  many  parenthetical  commas,  and  by  the 
recommendation  of  rigid  rules  for  parenthetical  commas, 
curves,  and  dashes.  The  rules  for  parenthetical  points  are 
based  not  on  usage  but  on  grammatical  distinctions  and  on 
the  "inherent  meanings"  of  the  marks.  Mr.  Klein  is  of 
the  opinion  that  parenthetical  matter  "with  grammatical 
connection"  (established  by  preposition  or  conjunction) 
should  be  set  off  by  commas  ordinarily,  by  dashes  when  the 
writer  "dashes  off  the  track  of  his  thought  for  a  moment." 
Groups  without  grammatical  connection  he  calls  "purely 
parenthetical"  matter,  to  be  enclosed  in  curves.  The  rule 
is  too  rigid.  Matter  purely  parenthetical  according  to  Mr. 
Klein's  definition  may  be  enclosed  in  curves,  dashes,  or 
commas;  sometimes  not  pointed  at  all.  (For  the  pointing 
of  parenthetical  elements  see  pages  102ff.  below.) 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO  PRESS.  Manual  of  Style,  fifth 
edition.  Chicago,  1917. 

A  reference  book  of  great  value,  especially  for  informa- 
tion regarding  capitalization,  division  of  words,  compound 
words,  italic,  and  other  typographical  matters.  Punctua- 
tion is  treated  not  rhetorically  but  in  legislative  fashion, 
with  prescriptions  for  average  cases.  With  a  few  excep- 
tions, the  rules  are  applied  by  the  University  of  Chicago 
Press  "with  a  certain  degree  of  elasticity." 


CHAPTER  II 
THE  NATURE  OF  PUNCTUATION 

PUNCTUATION  is  defined  in  the  New  English  Dictionary 
as  "the  practice,  art,  method,  or  system  of  inserting  points 
or  *  stops'  to  aid  the  sense  in  writing  or  printing;  division 
of  written  or  printed  matter  into  sentences,  clauses,  etc.,  by 
means  of  points  or  stops." 

The  use  of  the  term  to  mean  a  punctuation  mark  is  practi- 
cally obsolete ;  and  punctuation  in  the  rare  sense  of  observ- 
ing stops  with  the  voice  is  aside  from  the  present  purpose. 
Punctuation  marks  are  meant  for  the  eye.  Though  they 
may  convey  suggestions  of  intonation  and  vocal  pauses, 
that  is  not  their  usual  purpose.  Their  suggestion  to  the 
"inner  ear"  is  more  difficult  than  important  to  estimate. 

The  list  of  punctuation  marks  is  sometimes  held,  as  in 
Webster's  New  International  Dictionary  (Appendix  XX), 
to  include  not  only  the  usual  series  of  marks  but  also  the 
accents,  the  dieresis,  the  cedilla,  the  caret,  the  brace,  the 
asterism  (  ^%  or  %*  ) ,  and  the  obsolescent  series  of  refer- 
ence marks  beginning  with  the  asterisk. 

There  will  be  no  attempt  in  this  book,  however,  to  deal 
with  all  of  these  marks.  The  paragraph  sign  requires  only 
bare  mention,  and  there  need  be  no  further  mention  of  the 
caret,  the  brace,  ditto  marks,  leaders,  or  the  asterism.  The 
accent  and  quantity  marks  will  be  omitted,  except  that  the 
dieresis  will  require  mention  as  an  alternative  to  the  hyphen 
in  certain  words.  Reference  marks  will  be  included  only 
for  brief  treatment.  Otherwise  the  discussion  will  be 

19 


20  Modern  Punctuation 

limited  almost  exclusively  to  the  following  marks:  period 
(with  group  of  periods),  interrogation  point,  exclamation 
point,  colon,  semicolon,  comma,  dash  (of  whatever  length), 
curves,  brackets,  quotation  marks,  division  hyphen,  com- 
pounding hyphen,  and  apostrophe. 

Attention  will  be  directed  to  the  use  of  these  marks  in 
recent  English  prose  written  primarily  for  silent  reading, 
and  to  body  matter,  as  opposed  to  title-pages,  headings  of 
all  kinds,  legends,  inscriptions,  and  display  matter  in 
general.  Liturgical,  oratorical,  and  of  course  mathematical 
pointing  are  entirely  apart  from  the  present  purpose. 

Paragraphing  and  the  use  of  capitals  and  italic  are  not 
punctuation  in  the  customary  sense;  but  they  serve  pur- 
poses in  large  degree  similar  to  those  of  punctuation  marks. 
The  paragraph  is  a  sort  of  super-punctuation,  and  capitals, 
like  italic,  are  an  indication  of  grouping  or  meaning.  They 
will  therefore  be  included.  Italic  and  capitals  are  some- 
times alternative  with  quotation  marks ;  and  the  paragraph 
will  require  frequent  mention  in  relation  to  sentence  divi- 
sion and  to  movement  and  emphasis.  The  relation  of  punc- 
tuation to  the  paragraph  has  been  surprisingly  neglected 
by  textbook  writers. 

THE  NATURE  OP  PUNCTUATION 

Punctuation  marks  are  signs  which  indicate  the  relation 
and  character  of  the  words  which  they  precede,  enclose,  or 
terminate.  When  properly  and  not  mechanically  employed 
they  convey  the  writer's  meaning — so  far  as  it  is  not  given 
by  words  and  display — as  clearly  and  economically  as  pos- 
sible, with  the  right  kind  of  movement  and  the  proper  dis- 
tribution of  emphasis. 

In  tables,  title-pages,  or  formal  invitations,  grouping  may 
be  effected  by  the  division  into  lines,  with  various  kinds  of 


The  Uses  of  Punctuation  21 

indention;  but  display  composition  is  apart  from  the  mat- 
ter in  hand. 

Points  inaccurately  used  are  likely  to  obscure  the  group- 
ing, to  falsify  emphasis,  or  at  any  rate  to  be  stilted  and 
clumsy.  What  is  worse,  unsuitable  marks  may  betray  in- 
competence, or  ignorance  of  convention,  or  even  rhetorical 
vanity. 

Punctuation  marks  when  properly  used  are  not  intended 
to  be  noticed  for  themselves.  Their  purpose  is  to  show  at 
a  glance  the  relation,  the  relative  weights,  or  the  nature  of 
the  words  they  set  off.  If  a  point  attracts  attention  to 
itself,  this  is  usually  because  there  is  something  wrong  in 
punctuation  or  in  structure. 

Punctuation  marks  do  not  determine  thought,  or  take  the 
place  of  thought ;  yet  by  virtue  of  certain  familiar  customs 
and  expectations  they  enable  the  writer  to  effect  what  would 
•therwise  be  difficult.  They  save  transition  words,  as  when 
they  make  it  unnecessary  to  say  ' '  this  is  quoted, "  ' '  this  is 
parenthetical, ' '  ' '  the  next  clause  is  coordinate  with  the  one 
just  gone  over,"  ''the  following  words  are  to  receive  special 
notice."  Skilfully  employed,  they  often  indicate  what 
could  not  otherwise  be  managed  save  at  the  cost  of  wordy 
formality.  A  pair  of  curves  may  say,  "Of  course  you,  if 
not  the  general  run  of  my  readers,  know  this  already. ' '  A 
set  of  quote  marks  enclosing  a  word  may  be  interpreted  to 
mean,  "I  am  too  refined  to  let  this  pass  as  my  own;  it  is 
smoking-room  slang."  By  showing  what  is  interrogative, 
or  logically  subordinate,  or  ironical,  or  by  marking  different 
degrees  of  emphasis — usually  at  the  same  time  that  they 
indicate  grouping — punctuation  marks  are  a  useful  aid  to 
clearness.  The  ordinary  uses  of  the  points  are  so  familiar 
that  certain  effects  and  economies  are  practically  condi- 
tioned on  the  use  of  the  customary  signals. 

Marks  rightly  used  keep  the  reader  from  confusing  ad- 


22  Modern  Punctuation 

jacent  groups,  and  from  the  annoyance  of  having  to  re- 
trace his  steps.  When  misused  they  indicate  false  bounda- 
ries; or  by  their  association  with  certain  structural  forms 
they  suggest  weights  of  emphasis  which  are  not  intended. 

Obvious  as  it  would  seem  that,  to  man  ships,  officers  and  men 
are  necessary,  it  has  been  the  habit  of  successive  Congresses  to 
ignore  this  fact. 

The  reader  learns  too  late  that  ships,  officers  and  men  is  not 
a  series.  The  sentence  requires  not  repointing  but  re- 
construction. The  following  sentence  is  bad  because  the 
main  break,  after  experiment,  is  open,  and  the  parentheti- 
cal group  so  pointed  as  to  make  it  momentarily  appear  that 
the  main  break  comes  after  ~but. 

It  is  a  bold  experiment  but,  taken  by  and  large,  it  is  not  a 
success.— The  Dial,  Feb.  14,  1918. 

John  Muir  accompanied  this  searching  party  and  his  private 
journals,  letters  published  at  the  time  in  the  San  Francisco  "Bul- 
letin," and  his  contributions  to  the  government  reports  of  the 
Corwin's  explorations  have  been  skilfully  woven  by  the  editor 
into  a  connected  narrative  of  the  summer's  cruise  amidst  the  ice- 
floes, fogs,  and  storms  of  these  little  known  seas. — The  Dial, 
Feb.  14,  1918. 

The  pointing  is  bad,  the  structure  haphazard;  given  this 
wording,  heavy  punctuation  is  necessary  to  clearness.  In 
the  following  sentence  the  semicolon  suggests  the  beginning 
of  a  new  main  clause. 

Then  there  was  an  investigation,  some  indictments;  and  an 
ordinance  designed  to  prevent  similar  impositions  on  the  public 
in  the  future. 

As  a  general  though  not  invariable  rule,  punctuation 
marks  do  not  separate  sentence-elements  which  are  so 


Points  and  Wording  23 

closely  related  as  subject  and  verb,  verb  and  direct  object, 
or  noun  and  necessary  modifier.  An  apparent  exception  is 
the  use  of  marks  where  matter  to  be  separately  grouped 
intervenes  between  elements  ordinarily  phrased  together. 
In  the  following  sentence  the  points  help  the  reader  to 
bridge  the  gap  between  subject  and  verb  by  marking  the 
infinitive  phrase  as  parenthetical  and  thereby  letting  it  be 
seen  that  the  remaining  words  are  in  natural  sequence, 
continuous  save  for  the  intervening  parenthesis. 

A  reporter,  to  tell  the  plain  truth,  cannot  afford  to  be  above 
his  work  or  "above  his  job,"  as  the  New  York  newsgatherers 
say. — John  L.  Given,  Making  a  Newspaper,  p.  185. 

WHAT  PUNCTUATION  Is  NOT 

Punctuation  is  far  from  being  a  mere  mechanical  device. 
It  is  mechanical  as  a  matter  of  course,  like  word-spacing  or 
the  use  of  initial  capitals;  but  punctuation  is  much  more 
than  that.  It  is  an  integral  part  of  written  composition. 
The  pointing  must  fit  the  words.  What  is  equally  impor- 
tant, words  must  often  be  so  economized  or  managed  that 
grouping  marks  will  not  be  required  too  often  or  at  incon- 
venient places.  Often  the  only  way  to  avoid  awkward 
pointing  is  to  revise  the  phrasing. 

It  is  a  commonplace,  but  one  which  requires  repeating, 
that  punctuation  is  not  a  panacea  for  bad  composition. 
Points  may  reveal  the  meaning  of  a  badly  constructed  sen- 
tence, but  in  that  case  they  will  also  reveal  the  badness 
of  the  structure.  The  remedy  for  faulty  structure  is  re- 
vision. 

STRUCTURAL,  EDITORIAL,  AND  WORD  POINTING 

In  general,  the  name  structural  pointing  may  conven- 
iently be  given  to  the  use  of  sentence  points,  comma,  semi- 


24  Modern  Punctuation 

colon,  colon,  curves,  and  the  dash,  except  the  en  dash  and 
ellipsis  dashes.  Quote  marks,  brackets,  and  ellipsis  dots 
and  asterisks  may  be  called  editorial  points.  The  apos- 
trophe, the  abbreviation  period,  hyphens,  the  en  dash,  and 
the  ellipsis  dash  may  be  classified  as  etymological  or  word 
points.  Non-structural  points,  especially  quotes  or  brack- 
ets, may  give  the  effect  of  structural  grouping,  but  as  a 
rule  the  distinctions  are  clear.  The  structural  points  are 
far  less  subject  to  rule  than  editorial  or  word  points.  They 
are  more  difficult,  and  for  both  meaning  and  emphasis  are 
usually  more  important. 


" GRAMMATICAL "  AND  ''RHETORICAL"  POINTS 

The  inaccurate  and  misleading  classification  of  punctua- 
tion marks  into  grammatical  and  rhetorical  points,  or  into 
grammatical  and  grammatical-rhetorical,  is  still  current. 

The  New  Standard  Dictionary  distinguishes  grammatical, 
rhetorical,  and  etymological  punctuation,  and  punctuation 
for  reference. 

Webster 's  New  International  Dictionary  says  that 
"Punctuation  is  chiefly  done  with  four  points"  (period, 
colon,  semicolon,  and  comma),  and  describes  the  other 
points  (interrogation,  exclamation,  parentheses,  dash,  and 
brackets)  as  being  "partly  rhetorical  and  partly  gram- 
matical." 

The  Century  Dictionary  distinguishes  "the  points  used 
for  punctuation  exclusively"  (period,  colon,  semicolon, 
comma)  from  those  that  "serve  also  for  punctuation  in  the 
place  of  one  or  another  of  these,  while  having  a  special 
rhetorical  effect  of  their  own"  (interrogation  and  exclama- 
tion points).  The  dash  is  said  to  be  "also  used,  either 
alone  or  in  conjunction  with  one  of  the  preceding  marks, 
in  some  cases  where  the  sense  or  the  nature  of  the  pause 


Rhetorical  Nature  of  Punctuation  25 

required  can  thereby  be  more  clearly  indicated."  The 
obvious  objections  to  the  Century's  account  of  the  matter 
are  (1)  that  the  colon  and  the  semicolon  have  a  no  less 
"special  rhetorical  effect"  than  the  interrogation  and  ex- 
clamation points,  (2)  that  the  period,  colon,  semicolon,  and 
comma  are  used  no  more  "exclusively  for  punctuation" 
than  the  other  points.  That  the  question  and  exclamation 
marks  are  stronger  than  certain  other  marks  is  quite  irrele- 
vant to  the  classification. 

The  fundamental  truth  is  that  all  structural  punctuation 
marks  in  straight  reading  matter  are  rhetorical  points, 
because  they  are  at  once  grouping  points  and  (intentionally 
or  otherwise)  emphasis  points,  with  effects  on  movement. 

Definitions  of  rhetoric  and  rhetorical  for  the  present  pur- 
pose necessarily  include  the  mechanics  of  writing.  The 
definitions  are  given  in  terms  of  printing,  but  will  apply  to 
manuscript  without  essential  change.  The  principal  dif- 
ference is  that  in  printing  a  higher  mechanical  excellence 
is  expected. 

As  defined  for  printed  matter,  rhetoric  is  the  art  of  com- 
munication by  means  of  printed  lexicological  units  (com- 
monly called  words  and  word-groups),  with  the  incidental 
aid  of  white  space,  symbols,  and  other  mechanical  devices 
such  as  the  use  of  different  type  faces,  of  color,  rules,  bor- 
ders, decorations,  and  of  initial  and  other  capitals.  It  is 
necessary  to  take  into  account  even  the  kind  of  paper,  the 
size  and  kind  of  text  type,  the  presswork,  the  binding,  and 
design. 

An  important  though  imponderable  element  of  prestige 
is  conveyed  by  the  names  of  the  author,  the  publisher,  and 
sometimes  of  the  printer.  Prestige  is  necessarily  a  variable 
element,  subject  to  continual  alteration. 

Communication  means  the  process  of  imparting  informa- 
tion, or  giving  pleasure,  or  inducing  some  one  to  share  a 


26  Modern  Punctuation 

feeling  or  pursue  a  certain  course  of  action — any  or  all  of 
these,  as  the  writer  may  desire. 

White  space  includes  the  spacing  of  symbols,  words,  sen- 
tences, even  letters  at  times;  the  spacing  (or  "leading") 
of  lines;  paragraph  and  other  indentions,  space  left  at 
paragraph  ends,  and  extra  space  sometimes  left  between 
paragraphs;  space  to  the  right  and  left  of  centered  lines; 
and  blank  or  partly  blank  pages.  The  rhetorical  value  of 
white  space — a  matter  clearer  to  printers  than  to  most 
teachers  and  writers — appears  by  absence  when  words  are 
unspaced,  when  the  page  is  crowded  to  the  edges,  or  when 
matter  which  ought  to  be  in  half  a  dozen  paragraphs  is 
set  as  an  unbroken  phalanx  paragraph.  White  space  judi- 
ciously employed  makes  communication  easier  and  more 
pleasurable.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  publishers  use  so 
much  paper  for  well-proportioned  margins,  and  that  ad- 
vertisers pay  heavily  for  space  which  they  do  not  fill  with 
words.  White  space  may  be  considered  in  three  aspects: 
as  a  removal  of  obstructions,  so  that  the  reader  may  read; 
as  a  means  of  indicating  transitions,  e.  g.  from  paragraph 
to  paragraph;  and  as  an  important  element  in  typo- 
graphical design. 

Symbols  are  arbitrarily  taken  here  to  exclude  complete 
words  used  in  their  ordinary  logical  sense,  and  to  include 
chapter  and  section  numbers,  letters  or  numbers  in  formal 
lists,  arbitrary  marks  of  all  kinds  not  otherwise  included, 
the  paragraph  sign  (rarely  employed  in  text  matter),  ref- 
erence signs  (superior  figures,  superior  letters,  etc.),  and 
punctuation  marks. 

Rhetorical  means  aiding  or  defeating  in  whatever  degree 
any  of  the  aesthetic  or  practical  aims  of  writing.  More 
specifically,  it  means  aiding  or  hindering  communication 
in  respect  to  clearness,  economy,  ease,  agreeableness,  force, 
persuasiveness,  or  whatever  may  be  desired.  A  rhetorical 


A  Rhetorical  Instrument  27 

use  of  a  point  is  simply  an  instrumental  use;  instinctive 
perhaps,  but  in  its  degree  effective,  whether  for  or  against 
any  of  the  purposes  of  writing. 

In  some  formal  uses  the  rhetorical  effect  of  a  point  may 
be  practically  nil,  as  where  points  are  used  at  line-ends  in 
the  superscription  of  a  letter.  But  points  in  text  matter 
are  properly  and  usually  rhetorical,  for  good  or  evil,  by 
exhibiting  grouping,  relations,  character,  and  relative 
weights. 

To  be  sure,  there  are  survivals  of  unnecessary  points 
under  the  influence  of  customs  which  have  lost  their  utility ; 
but  even  in  such  cases  there  is  some  offense  to  taste.  A 
typical  case  of  the  kind  is  the  use  of  the  comma  with  dashes 
which  would  do  as  well  alone ;  another  is  the  use  of  the  dash 
with  a  colon  (e.  g.  after  a  "Dear  Sir"  or  before  a  quota- 
tion) where  the  colon  is  entirely  competent  for  the  work. 
Though  the  effect  of  such  excrescences  may  be  negligible  to 
most  readers,  it  would  be  better  art  to  get  rid  of  them.  The 
Manual  of  Style  of  the  University  of  Chicago  Press  says 
that  ordinarily  the  dash  should  not  be  used  in  combination 
with  other  points — a  typical  piece  of  evidence  that  such 
cases  are  not  matters  of  indifference. 

No  one  would  attempt  to  deny  that  marks  are  often 
improperly  used  by  writers  who  in  other  respects  are  com- 
petent craftsmen ;  or  that  many  writers  leave  much  of  their 
pointing  to  secretaries  and  printers ;  or  that  many  readers 
are  insensitive  to  punctuation.  It  might  even  be  proved 
that  some  people  are  rather  proud  of  being  ignorant  of 
punctuation,  just  as  certain  persons  feel  themselves  supe- 
rior by  virtue  of  their  cryptic  handwriting.  These  are 
data  for  the  sociologist ;  they  are  no  proof  that  punctuation 
marks  are  not  rhetorical. 

The  art  of  communication  through  printed  matter  in- 
cludes not  merely  the  writer 's  words  but  also  the  mechanics 


28  Modern  Punctuation 

of  presentation,  in  which  punctuation  has  an  important 
part.  But  there  still  lingers  the  delusion — with  a  sufficient 
admixture  of  truth  to  keep  it  alive — that  punctuation  may 
be  merely  "grammatical." 

If  it  is  to  be  held  that  a  point  is  grammatical  without 
being  rhetorical,  it  is  necessary  to  divorce  grammar  from 
thought  and  to  make  rhetorical  include  only  the  unusual 
or  highly  emphatic.  Points  are  rhetorical  because  they 
are  instrumental ;  because  when  properly  used  they  help  to 
make  writing  intelligible  and  otherwise  effective. 

It  is  true  that  some  marks  are  more  emphatic  than  others, 
and  it  is  true  that  pointing  does  not  always  correspond  to 
syntactical  relations;  but  a  comma  is  no  less  strictly  rhe- 
torical than  a  dash  or  exclamation  point.  A  comma  in 
reading  matter  is  a  rhetorical  instrument,  or  an  obstruc- 
tion. 

The  interrogation  and  exclamation  points  are  admit- 
tedly rhetorical ;  but  since  the  other  marks  have  been  denied 
the  possession  of  rhetorical  character,  it  is  necessary  to  put 
them  under  examination.  If  they  aid  or  hinder  the  aims 
of  communication  in  any  degree  whatsoever,  they  are  rhe- 
torical. 

The  terminal  period  is  rhetorical  because  it  announces 
that  any  following  matter  is  a  new  sentence — an  assertion, 
exclamation,  question,  or  injunction,  or  an  expression  (like 
Of  course,  or  Indeed?  or  Yes)  which  is  given  the  formal 
rank  ordinarily  reserved  to  the  full  sentence.  The  period 
marks  the  boundary  between  fact  A  and  fact  B ;  or  it  may 
indicate  that  the  preceding  group  belongs  to  the  whole 
paragraph  rather  than  to  one  of  the  constituent  subtopics. 
The  rhetorical  nature  of  the  period  is  perhaps  best  seen  in 
the  use  of  short  sentences  for  sharp  emphasis  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  longer  sentences.  A  common  misuse  of  the 
period,  and  one  which  displays  its  rhetorical  nature,  is  the 


Special  Rhetorical  Functions  29 

pointing  of  several  successive  predications  in  such  a  way 
as  to  give  them  equal  formal  rank,  irrespective  of  their 
relative  value,  as  if  each  remark  were  a  jewel  of  wisdom 
worthy  to  be  set  as  a  solitaire. 

The  colon  in  its  ordinary  use,  as  introducing  a  quotation 
or  list,  is  rhetorical  because  it  indicates  grouping  and  at 
the  same  time  serves  as  a  formal  emphasis  mark,  as  when 
it  ends  an  introduction  and  emphatically  calls  attention  to 
whatever  may  follow. 

The  semicolon  is  rhetorical  like  the  other  marks.  It  may 
aid  clearness  by  marking  an  antithesis  or  by  managing  a 
swift  passage  from  one  statement  to  another  without  the 
agency  of  a  link- word.  It  may  also  make  the  grouping 
clear  by  indicating  the  larger  breaks  where  the  lesser  breaks 
are  pointed  with  commas,  as  in  lists  of  names  with  ad- 
dresses. 

The  comma  is  usually  the  lightest  point  of  the  series ;  but 
its  rhetorical  character  is  evident.  It  may  make  all  the 
difference  between  clearness  and  obscurity;  if  used  too 
often  it  may  make  writing  formal,  absurd,  or  unintelligible. 
"The  great  enemies  to  understanding  anything  printed  in 
our  language,"  says  Henry  Alford  in  The  Queen's  English, 
"are  the  commas."  As  a  matter  of  course  he  means  un- 
necessary commas. 

The  ordinary  em  dash  and  the  long  dash  are  clearly 
rhetorical.  They  mark  interrupted  or  broken  sentences, 
changes  of  tack,  emphatic  apposition,  or  emphatic  paren- 
thesis. The  en  dash,  as  in  the  expression  pages  38-55,  is 
much  like  the  hyphen  in  effect. 

Curves  enclose  parenthetical  matter  (dates,  page  ref- 
erences, explanations)  for  more  or  less  rapid  notice  as  not 
formally  structural.  The  use  of  curves  may  degenerate 
into  a  mannerism,  with  injurious  effects  on  both  tone  and 
movement. 


30  Modern  Punctuation 

Brackets  ordinarily  enclose  editorial  matter  interpolated 
in  quotations.  They  are  rhetorical  because  an  instrument 
of  communication.  They  say  to  the  reader,  "Here  are  the 
boundaries  of  an  interpolation. ' ' 

Even  quote  marks  are  rhetorical.  Words  enclosed  in 
quote  marks  are  more  emphatic  than  open  words,  the  quotes 
having  a  suspensive  effect  resembling  that  of  structural 
points.  Quote  marks  may  give  excessive  emphasis,  may 
check  movement  awkwardly,  may  give  an  air  of  self- 
consciousness.  The  use  of  quote  marks  in  admiration  of 
one's  own  learning  or  literary  skill  is  perhaps  the  worst 
display  of  bad  taste  which  punctuation  marks  permit. 

It  is  often  better  to  cite  in  substance  than  directly,  or 
else  to  maneuver  sentences  so  as  to  make  the  quote  mark 
come  at  a  sentence  or  clause  break.  A  quote  mark  in- 
troduced where  the  syntax  is  continuous  may  be  awkward. 

Matthew  Arnold  defined  "the  modern  element  in  literature" 
.is  the  ability  to  render  an  adequate  interpretation  of  the  various 
activities  of  modern  life,  "to  see  life  steadily,  and  to  see  it  whole." 

The  second  quoted  group  is  better  managed  than  the  first. 

Even  word  points  are  rhetorical,  though  so  much  under 
the  control  of  orthographic  rules  as  sometimes  to  be  almost 
purely  formal  in  use. 

The  apostrophe  aids  clearness  by  marking  words  as 
genitives  or  contractions.  And  though  the  meaning  may 
be  clear  without  the  apostrophe  in  a  given  case,  the  omis- 
sion may  be  annoying — as  to  some  readers  of  Mr.  Bernard 
Shaw's  prefaces,  where  don't  and  people's  appear  some- 
times as  dont  and  peoples.  There  is  so  much  respect  for 
orthography  among  readers,  both  learned  and  otherwise, 
that  even  apostrophes  may  count  in  the  total  effect.  The 
omission  of  a  customary  apostrophe  is  likely  to  be  noticed, 
and  attributed  to  eccentricity  or  ignorance. 


Communication  versus  Syntax  31 

The  abbreviation  period  is  rhetorical  so  far  as  useful  for 
clearness  and  for  avoidance  of  orthographical  offense.  As 
between  per  cent  and  per  cent,  (both  forms  in  good  current 
use)  there  may  be  no  rhetorical  difference  except  to  per- 
sons observant  of  printing  styles.  But  alternation  between 
the  two  forms  in  a  single  book  would  be  a  disgrace  to  the 
printer. 

The  compounding  hyphen,  as  in  extemporaneous  or  half- 
united  compounds,  is  useful  for  clearness.  Horse  whipped 
~by  angry  woman-  is  obscure;  horse-whipped  by  angry 
woman  is  clear.  As  between  hyphened  and  solid  com- 
pounds (like  proof-reader  and  proofreader)  there  is  much 
latitude  of  good  use.  There  may  be  little  or  no  difference 
of  effect  save  on  the  ground  of  consistency. 

Even  the  division  hyphen  is  rhetorical,  though  seldom  by 
intention.  Witness  the  printers'  rules  against  numerous 
divisions  and  against  syllable-splitting  (like  dy-eing  or 
des-ign)  which  may  puzzle  the  reader  even  momentarily. 
Authors  cannot  make  provision  against  line-breaks;  in  this 
as  in  certain  other  typographical  matters  they  depend  on 
the  printer. 

The  punctuation  marks,  when  considered  with  reference 
to  the  forms  and  relations  which  they  exhibit  or  suggest, 
are  all  of  them  rhetorical,  in  the  nature  of  the  case,  by 
design  or  by  inadvertence.  To  treat  them  as  merely 
mechanical,  or  to  imagine  that  the  use  of  points  can  always 
be  reduced  to  categorical  correctness,  is  to  misconceive  their 
nature  and  utility. 

The  rhetorical  nature  of  the  marks  must  be  insisted  on, 
because  the  grammatical  viewpoint — legitimate  in  itself — 
has  laid  emphasis  upon  formal  syntax  rather  than  upon 
communication.  The  field  of  syntax  is  the  sentence,  and 
the  sentence  has  in  practice  been  the  field  of  discussion  for 
the  ' *'  rules  of  punctuation. ' '  But  questions  of  punctuation 


32  Modern  Punctuation 

frequently  require  decision  on  grounds  of  utility  in  the 
paragraph. 

The  following  words,  if  dragged  out  of  their  context,  may 
be  punctuated  "correctly"  in  either  of  these  ways: 

Their  hobbies  do  not  spread  desolation  over  the  social  world. 
Their  prejudices  do  not  insult  our  intelligence. 

Their  hobbies  do  not  spread  desolation  over  the  social  world; 
their  prejudices  do  not  insult  our  intelligence. 

But  the  passage  (from  Miss  Agnes  Repplier's  Americans 
and  Others,  page  161)  is  and  ought  to  be  differently 
pointed.  Written  as  two  sentences,  or  as  one  sentence  with 
semicolon,  the  two  predications  as  parts  of  the  paragraph 
would  be  misrepresented. 

There  are  men  and  women — not  many — who  have  the  happy 
art  of  making  their  most  fervent  convictions  endurable.  Their 
hobbies  do  not  spread  desolation  over  the  social  world,  their  pre- 
judices do  not  insult  our  intelligence.  They  may  be  so  "abreast 
with  the  times"  that  we  cannot  keep  track  of  them,  or  they  may 
be  basking  serenely  in  some  Early  Victorian  close.  They  may 
believe  buoyantly  in  the  Baconian  cipher,  or  in  thought  trans- 
ference, or  in  the  serious  purposes  of  Mr.  George  Bernard  Shaw, 
or  in  anything  else  which  invites  credulity.  They  may^even  ex- 
press their  views,  and  still  be  loved  and  cherished  by  their  friends. 

There  might  be  a  number  of  changes  in  punctuation 
under  the  customary  rules,  if  the  sentences  of  this  para- 
graph were  isolated;  but  such  experiments  would  be  like 
anatomical  experiments  to  determine  a  question  of  physiol- 
ogy. However  useful  for  supplementary  purposes,  they 
might  omit  certain  essential  data.  The  considerations  per- 
tinent to  the  case  will  be  treated  in  the  following  chapter. 


CHAPTER  III 
THE  PROBLEMS  OF  PUNCTUATION 

THE  problem  in  every  question  of  punctuation  is  twofold. 
The  writer  must  keep  within  the  limits  of  safety  set  by 
convention  and  consequent  expectation.  At  the  same  time, 
in  the  same  act  of  writing,  he  has  to  employ  the  marks  in 
organic  relation  to  thought  and  form,  with  reference  to  the 
inechanical  and  human  conditions  of  the  case.  Certain 
mechanical  conditions  which  may  have  to  be  considered 
are  paragraph  length,  division  into  lines,  and  the  office 
styles  of  individual  publishers.  Among  the  human  condi- 
tions are  the  expected  class  of  readers,  the  tone  and  man- 
ner suitable  to  the  occasion,  and  the  probable  conditions  of 
reading. 

The  options  permitted  by  current  usage,  with  the  con- 
siderations of  choice,  will  be  treated  in  the  following  chap- 
ters under  such  heads  as  Sentence  Pointing,  Compounding, 
and  Series  Pointing.  Meantime  it  is  necessary  to  notice 
certain  general  considerations.  These  may  be  reduced  to 
convention  and  utility. 

CONVENTION  IN  PUNCTUATION 

Convention  in  the  use  of  marks  is  not  absolutely  fixed, 
but  so  far  as  definite  it  can  be  ignored  only  at  peril.  A 
writer  does  well  to  keep  safely  within  convention  because 
points  used  in  their  customary  way  do  their  proper  work 
instead  of  attracting  attention  to  themselves,  and  because 

33 


34  Modern  Punctuation 

systematic  punctuation,  where  uniformity  matters,  will  help 
to  convey  the  impression  that  the  writer  knows  his  own 
mind. 

Conventions  may  be  widespread,  like  the  venerable  rule 
that  a  sentence  shall  end  with  a  full  stop.  On  the  other 
hand  they  may  be  local  or  special.  Practice  may  vary  even 
within  a  single  office,  as  when  styles  for  law  printing  differ 
from  those  applied  to  miscellaneous  work. 

Office  or  private  conventions  save  time  and  prevent  un- 
certainty. It  is  well,  for  example,  to  decide  the  order  of 
punctuation  marks  which  occur  together,  the  pointing  to 
be  used  before  quotations  formally  introduced,  the  kind  and 
number  of  points  for  ellipsis,  and  the  pointing  of  a  series 
such  as  came,  saw,  and  conquered.  In  such  matters  and 
also  in  the  setting  of  side-heads,  credits,  and  book  titles, 
consistency  is  necessary. 

Temporary  or  local  restrictions  are  sometimes  imposed 
for  a  special  purpose,  as  when  school  children  are  for- 
bidden to  begin  a  sentence  with  but  or  and,  or  to  write  as  a 
sentence  anything  less  than  a  full  sentence  with  subject  and 
predicate.  Such  restrictions  may  be  usefully  imposed  long 
enough  to  make  the  pupil  learn  the  nature  of  the  sentence, 
provided  he  knows  that  the  restriction  is  temporary.  In 
like  manner  newspaper  reporters  may  be  forbidden  to  use 
curves  for  certain  purposes  or  to  make  any  use  of  anti- 
thetical semicolons. 

But  convention  is  less  definite  than  students  have  been 
led  to  suppose,  especially  with  regard  to  structural  punc- 
tuation. The  pointing  of  a  given  sentence  may  have  to  be 
determined  in  the  light  of  an  entire  paragraph  or  longer 
passage. 

To  name  only  one  case,  a  parenthetical  element  within  a 
sentence  may  be  open,  or  may  be  pointed  in  a  variety  of 
ways — with  commas,  dashes,  commas  and  dashes  together, 


Tyrannical  Rules  35 

curves,  or  brackets.  And  this  wide  range  of  choice — of 
course  limited  narrowly  in  some  cases — is  typical  of  the 
conditions  which  make  punctuation  a  matter  of  intelligence. 

Neither  rule  nor  logic  determines  all  questions  of  point- 
ing. In  the  writings  of  the  editorial  gentlemen  who  are 
supposed  to  have  "all  but  achieved  uniformity"  in  point- 
ing, preliminary  expressions  of  similar  length  and  form 
are  sometimes  open,  sometimes  pointed.  The  end  of  a  series 
modifying  a  following  word  may  be  pointed  or  open. 
Clause  breaks  in  sentences  of  equal  length  are  pointed  dif- 
ferently according  to  circumstances.  Modern  pointing  is 
logically  consistent  only  by  comparison  with  the  older 
pointing.  Where  obedience  to  a  custom  stands  in  the  way 
of  good  movement  and  is  not  an  aid  to  clearness,  the  custom 
goes  by  the  board. 

For  this  reason  a  printer's  office  styles,  if  mechanically 
applied  without  reference  to  varying  circumstances,  may 
be  tyrannical.  One  writer  on  punctuation  has  lamented 
that ' '  the  publishing  house  has  its  system  of  pointing,  from 
which  only  eternal  vigilance  can  protect  the  intelligent 
writer."  The  careless  writer  deserves  comparatively  small 
consideration;  in  fact  he  may  need  to  be  saved  from  him- 
self. But  the  systematic  and  accurate  writer  is  entitled  to 
whatever  liberty  of  pointing  his  meaning  may  require. 
According  to  Mr.  De  Vinne  (Correct  Composition,  p.  243), 
"it  is  the  author's  right  to  use  his  own  system,  and  the 
compositor  must  neither  make  nor  suggest  any  change. 
If  the  proof-reader  thinks  that  the  author 's  system  of  point- 
ing will  confuse  the  reader,  he  may  (but  it  requires  tact  to 
do  so)  invite  the  attention  of  the  author  to  its  vagueness. 
There  his  duty  ends.  He  must  accept  the  author 's  decision. 
Meddling  with  an  educated  author's  punctuation  is  always 
injudicious,  and  may  be  regarded  as  impertinent." 

Most  problems  of  punctuation,  aside  from  the  easy  one 


36  Modern  Punctuation 

of  finding  what  is  permissible,  may  be  reduced  to  questions 
of  (1)  clearness,  (2)  management  of  emphasis,  and  (3) 
movement,  including  economy  and  variety. 


THE  CONSIDERATION  OF  CLEARNESS 

The  use  of  punctuation  marks  for  clearness  cannot  be 
separated  from  their  use  for  rhetorical  purposes  in  general. 
Clearness,  movement,  variety,  and  persuasiveness  are  in- 
extricably related.  But  as  a  matter  of  convenience  the 
relation  of  points  to  clearness  may  be  momentarily  isolated. 

Punctuation  marks  when  intelligently  used  show  group- 
ing and  relations.  Loose  parentheses  or  elements  clearly 
non-restrictive  may  be  best  understood  if  pointed  off.  On 
the  other  hand,  elements  closely  related  for  definition  or 
structure  are  usually  grouped  together,  not  separated  by 
a  punctuation  mark.  Between  subject  and  verb,  verb  and 
object,  preposition  and  object,  verb  and  complement,  or 
noun  and  necessary  modifier,  punctuation  is  usually  objec- 
tionable, unless  to  set  off  intervening  matter.  In  the  first 
of  the  sentences  following,  commas  make  the  grouping 
clear.  The  comma  in  the  second  is  an  obstruction. 

Thomas  Day,  the  author  of  the  History  of  Sandford  and  Mer- 
ton,  was  an  eccentric  philanthropist. 

To  save  a  considerable  part  of  one's  income,  is  ordinarily  both 
wisdom  and  duty. 

Sometimes  a  point  is  needed  to  prevent  an  awkward  hitch. 

When  he  fired,  the  bullet  struck  square  into  the  mark. 
I  took  it,  for  I  had  no  option. 

Six  months  before  I  had  seen  that  same  region  white  with  snow, 
yet  blazing  with  death. 


Questions  of  Emphasis  37 

In  the  first  of  these  sentences  the  comma  makes  it  clear  that 
bullet  is  not  the  object  of  fired  but  the  subject  of  struck. 
In  the  second,  the  comma  shows  instantly  that  for  is  not  a 
preposition  but  a  clause  link.  In  the  third,  which  needs  a 
point  after  Six  months  before,  the  grouping  is  not  clear. 

But  it  may  happen  in  such  cases  that  the  form  of  the  sen- 
tence should  be  changed  so  as  to  make  pointing  unnecessary, 
and  in  order  to  make  the  meaning  safe  against  the  reader. 
In  the  classic  case  of  the  telegram  "No.  Price  too  high," 
which  was  delivered  in  the  form  ' '  No  price  too  high, ' '  with 
expensive  results,  the  pointing  made  a  difference  so  vital 
that  nobody  except  by  gross  miscalculation  would  trust  his 
meaning  to  such  a  form,  points  or  no  points.  Telegrams  as 
now  delivered  are  commonly  typewritten  in  capitals  with- 
out points,  or  with  the  names  of  the  points  written  as  words. 

When  correcting  in  manuscript  or  type  is  difficult  for 
lack  of  time,  a  direct  style  with  little  pointing  is  desirable. 
Otherwise  the  compositor  may  ruin  the  effect  or  obscure 
the  meaning. 

THE  CONSIDERATION  OF  EMPHASIS 

Questions  of  punctuation  are  in  large  measure  questions 
of  emphasis.  This  is  not  because  points  are  often  used  for 
emphasis  alone,  but  because  grouping-points  suggest  certain 
relations  and  roughly  suggest  certain  weights  of  emphasis. 
The  semicolon  is  a  coordinating  point,  effecting  an  ap- 
proximately equal  distribution  of  emphasis;  parenthetical 
dashes  are  more  emphatic  than  parenthetical  commas;  the 
anticipatory  colon  throws  the  weight  of  emphasis  upon 
following  matter.  As  a  matter  of  course,  the  effect  of  a 
point  may  be  aided  or  may  be  countered  by  the  effect  of 
wording.  So  far  as  pointing  is  concerned,  clauses  sepa- 
rated by  a  semicolon  are  of  equal  weight;  but  position  or 
length  may  make  more  difference  than  pointing. 


38  Modern  Punctuation 

The  problem,  not  always  simple,  is  to  stamp  everything 
with  its  exact  value.  If  a  group  not  worth  being  displayed 
as  a  sentence  is  so  displayed,  it  is  overemphasized.  If  a 
relative  clause  which  ought  to  be  rapidly  passed  over  is  so 
worded  as  to  require  commas,  it  is  overemphasized.  If  a 
point  required  for  clear  grouping  is  rhetorically  inconven- 
ient, the  chances  are  that  something  is  awkwardly  em- 
phasized. In  this  case  the  next  step  is  to  revise. 

In  the  following  sentence  the  words  except  sentimentality 
might  be  left  open,  but  with  different  effect.  The  group- 
ing and  movement  would  be  different,  and  except  senti- 
mentality would  be  lighter. 

The  schools  have  abandoned  the  rod  as  a  promoter  of  educa- 
tional efficiency,  but  they  have  put  nothing,  except  sentimentality, 
in  its  place. — E.  J.  Swift,  Youth  and  the  Race,  p.  38. 

Except  sentimentality  is  formally  unnecessary  or  paren- 
thetical; actually  it  is  more  emphatic  than  if  an  open 
restrictive  group.  The  pointing  also  gives  additional  weight 
to  the  group  they  have  put  nothing. 

Other  things  equal,  the  strength  of  a  point  in  emphasiz- 
ing juxtaposed  matter  will  depend  partly  on  the  conven- 
tional rating  of  the  mark,  partly  on  the  pointing  of  the 
whole  passage  in  question.  Within  the  limits  of  a  single 
sentence  a  semicolon  is  superior  to  the  comma  and  usually 
inferior  to  the  colon.  The  comma  is  ordinarily  outranked 
by  the  dash.  Among  full  stops  the  less  frequent  question 
and  exclamation  marks  commonly  outweigh  the  more  fre- 
quent period;  in  the  case  of  parenthetical  points,  both 
curves  and  dashes  usually  outrank  the  comma.  But  if  a 
writer  makes  extravagant  use  of  the  stronger  or  less  com- 
mon points,  the  reader  learns  to  take  them  more  calmly  than 
under  normal  conditions. 


Weight  of  Points  Inconstant  39 

For  purposes  of  emphasis  a  full  stop  on  page  1  does  not 
necessarily  outrank  a  dash  or  semicolon  on  page  2,  though 
the  full  stop  is  theoretically  superior.  A  comma  misused 
may  get  more  attention  than  a  semicolon  in  due  place. 
A  pair  of  curves  enclosing  a  page  reference  for  rapid 
notice — as  if  to  say,  "Here  it  is  if  you  want  it" — will  be 
the  lightest  marks  because  the  best.  But  a  pair  of  curves 
may  enclose  a  remark  which  though  formally  parentheti- 
cal is  actually  important.  In  the  following  sentence  the 
parenthetical  or  afterthought  group  in  curves  is  actually 
the  most  emphatic  part  of  the  sentence. 

Be  like  the  Greeks,  is  the  sum  of  M.  France's  message;  since 
all  is  illusion  and  truth  escapes  us,  let  us  pursue  beauty  (he  should 
have  said,  be  like  certain  Greeks,  especially  certain  Greek  soph- 
ists).— Irving  Babbitt,  Masters  of  Modern  French  Criticism, 
p.  320. 

Emphasis  may  vary  in  kind  or  direction.  There  is  em- 
phasis by  sharpness  and  surprise,  and  emphasis  by  weight 
of  detail  or  by  suspension.  The  last  sentence  of  the  fol- 
lowing paragraph  has  at  once  abrupt  emphasis  and  the 
concentrated  weight  of  the  preceding  sentences. 

There  is  a  word,  a  "name  of  fear,"  which  rouses  terror  in  the 
heart  of  the  vast  educated  majority  of  the  English-speaking 
race.  The  most  valiant  will  fly  at  the  mere  utterance  of  that 
word.  The  most  broad-minded  will  put  their  backs  up  against 
it.  The  most  rash  will  not  dare  to  affront  it.  I  myself  have 
seen  it  empty  buildings  that  had  been  full;  and  I  know  that 
it  will  scatter  a  crowd  more  quickly  than  a  hose-pipe,  hornets, 
or  the  rumour  of  plague.  Even  to  murmur  it  is  to  incur  solitude, 
probably  disdain,  and  possibly  starvation,  as  historical  examples 
show.  The  word  is  "poetry." — Arnold  Bennett,  Literary  Taste, 
page  71. 


40  Modern  Punctuation 

By  means  of  suspension,  commas  and  dashes  aiding  in 
the  effect,  the  latter  part  of  the  following  sentence  is  given 
concentrated  emphasis: 

While  the  growth  of  advertising  has  been  exceedingly  rapid, 
accompanied  by  a  proportionate  increase  of  expenditure,  and 
while  vast  sums  have  been  spent  in  securing  the  best  in  advertis- 
ing copy,  the  question  of  the  presentation  of  this  copy — the 
typography  of  the  advertisement — has  been  to  a  great  extent 
neglected. — F.  J.  Trezise,  The  Typography  of  Advertisements, 
Preface. 

The  anticipatory  colon  ordinarily  checks  movement  in 
order  to  call  attention  to  what  follows,  whereas  the  semi- 
colon when  used  as  a  balancing  point  in  a  two-clause  sen- 
tence emphasizes  the  parts  about  equally. 

But  if  there  is  any  sincerity  in  Mr.  [George]  Moore's  personal 
writings,  we  may  be  sure  that,  if  called  upon,  he  would  moralize 
the  tale  in  some  such  fashion  as  this:  Don't  go  in  for  the  fast 
life  if  you  haven't  the  stamina  to  stand  the  pace. — Stuart  P. 
Sherman,  On  Contemporary  Literature,  p.  135. 

He  feasts  because  life  is  not  joyful;  he  revels  because  he  is 
not  glad. — G.  K.  Chesterton,  Heretics,  p.  111. 

Our  modern  politicians  claim  the  colossal  license  of  Caesar 
and  the  Superman,  claim  that  they  are  too  practical  to  be  pure 
and  too  patriotic  to  be  moral;  but  the  upshot  of  it  all  is  that  a 
mediocrity  is  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer. — Ib.,  p.  19. 

So  far  as  pointing  is  concerned,  emphasis  is  evenly  distrib- 
uted by  the  semicolons  in  the  last  two  examples;  but  the 
length  and  position  of  parts  contribute  to  the  effect. 

THE  CONSIDERATION  OF  MOVEMENT 

Both  clearness  and  emphasis  are  inextricably  united  with 
the  complex  and  highly  important  effect  called  movement. 


Movement  in  Prose  41 

Movement  in  written  prose  may  mean  in  the  first  place 
the  progress  of  thought  to  a  given  end,  with  suggestion, 
information,  entertainment,  or  persuasion  by  the  way.  If 
attention  is  directed  to  design  and  style,  as  theoretically 
isolated  from  thought,  movement  may  mean  the  sum  total 
of  accents,  pauses,  suggested  intonation,  and  suggested 
tone-color,  together  with  the  various  means  of  empha- 
sis. Proportion,  balance,  suspension,  parallelism,  capitals, 
white  space,  punctuation  marks — all  these,  and  probably 
more  than  these,  will  enter  into  the  effect. 

The  importance  of  good  movement — that  is,  good  for  the 
immediate  purpose — is  evident.  As  a  rule,  style  ought  to 
be  straightforward.  Though  interruptions  and  asides  are 
often  permissible,  even  necessary,  they  justify  themselves 
only  by  helping  the  reader  to  understand  as  he  proceeds. 
Unnecessary  points  or  points  made  necessary  by  bad  struc- 
ture are  likely  to  be  obstructions.  The  following  sentence 
from  Mr.  Arnold  Bennett  (The  Price  of  Love,  p.  87)  is 
an  illustration  of  one  of  the  ways  in  which  pointing  may 
affect  movement. 

An  aunt,  Reuben,  senior's,  sister — it  appeared — had  died 
several  years  earlier;  since  when  Rachel  had  alone  kept  house 
for  her  brother  and  her  father. 

Mr.  Bennett's  style  and  pointing  are  seldom  of  this  sort. 

The  movement  of  a  given  piece  of  prose  when  read 
silently  will  depend  on  two  factors,  the  reader  and  the 
prose.  Rate  of  reading,  checks  and  accelerations,  the  length 
of  pauses,  and  variations  of  attention  depend  on  the 
reader's  interests  and  associations,  and  upon  whatever 
else  may  happen  to  be  in  the  stream  of  consciousness. 
What  he  will  notice  and  with  what  degrees  of  attention 
will  depend  to  some  extent  on  changing  conditions.  With 
regard  to  punctuation  marks,  it  is  certain  that  some  readers 


42  Modern  Punctuation 

are  indifferent  so  long  as  they  understand  the  words,  while 
others  feel  a  wrong  or  unnecessary  mark  as  an  annoy- 
ance. 

The  second  factor  in  movement  is  the  nature  of  the 
written  prose.  Some  of  the  features  which  affect  move- 
ment are  choice  of  words,  length  and  structure  of  para- 
graphs and  sentences,  alliteration  and  assonance,  italic, 
capitals,  footnote  interruptions,  and  punctuation  marks. 
Even  such  mechanical  conditions  as  line  length,  type  faces, 
white  space,  illustrations  and  borders,  paper,  and  binding 
have  something  to  do  with  the  speed  and  satisfaction  of 
reading. 

Some  of  the  places  where  one  would  pause  in  speaking 
are  not  pointed,  and  some  punctuation  marks  serve  their 
purpose  without  any  determinate  vocal  effect.  To  what 
extent  marks  check  one  who  is  reading  to  himself  there  is 
no  way  of  determining ;  only  it  is  certain  that  points  which 
exhibit  meaning  with  true  emphasis  enable  the  reader  to 
proceed  more  rapidly  and  pleasurably.  If  a  point  or 
the  omission  of  a  point  makes  for  obscurity,  or  if  a  strong 
point  is  used  where  a  light  one  would  be  better,  there  is 
likely  to  be  a  hitch  in  the  movement.  Movement  may  be 
disagreeably  affected  by  any  point  that  gives  an  impression 
of  monotony,  overemphasis,  or  self-consciousness. 

So  far  as  pointing  is  concerned,  emphasis  and  movement 
are  correlative.  Checking  or  altering  the  movement  by  a 
period  makes  both  the  preceding  and  following  words  more 
emphatic  than  they  would  be  if  a  comma  were  used.  The 
period  does  not  necessarily  mean  a  longer  pause;  it  shows 
a  different  relation. 

These  men  make  mistakes,  but  they  do  not  repeat  their  mis- 
takes. 

These  men  make  mistakes.  But  they  do  not  repeat  their 
mistakes. 


Grouping,  Movement,  Cadence  43 

Or  the  semicolon  might  be  used  with  still  a  third  effect. 
The  parts  would  be  less  sharply  emphatic  than  in  the  second 
form,  with  emphasis  upon  the  twofold  antithetical  state- 
ment rather  than  upon  the  parts.  All  three  are  correct; 
the  choice  will  depend  upon  the  context. 

The  same  relation  of  emphasis  and  movement  appears  in 
the  use  of  series  points,  suspension  and  interruption  points, 
parenthetical  points,  even  quote  marks.  Every  point  used 
for  grouping  has  some  effect  on  the  movement  of  its  pas- 
sage. A  passage  may  be  halting  or  swift,  quiet  or  violent, 
direct  or  circuitous.  It  may  ' '  read  well ' '  or  otherwise ;  and 
the  least  analytical  reader  is  likely  to  feel  the  effect  of 
intervals  and  emphasis,  whatever  the  nature  of  the  com- 
position. 

The  problem  of  punctuation  in  text  matter  is  to  employ 
words,  points,  and  paragraph  breaks  in  such  a  way  as  to 
achieve  at  the  same  time  clearness,  proper  distribution  of 
emphasis,  and  the  desired  kind  of  movement.  The  negative 
side  of  the  matter  is  the  avoidance  of  obscurity,  monotony, 
false  emphasis,  ill-timed  formality,  and  clumsiness  of  all 
kinds. 

Semiramis  built  Babylon;  Dido,  Carthage. 
There    are   three   roads   which   commonly   lead   to   want   and 
wretchedness;  namely,  idleness,  intemperance,  and  crime. 

These  are  given  in  manuals  of  punctuation  without  warn- 
ing, as  examples  of  good  punctuation. 

The  following  sentences  show  what  pointing  can  do  for 
cadence : 

Such  is  the  direction,  such  the  object,  toward  which  the  Somme 
"Drang  nach  Osten" — to  steal  a  good  phrase  from  the  Germans 
— tends. 

A  work  of  art,  especially  if  the  art  be  in  literary  form,  affects 
us,  primarily,  emotionally. 


44  Modern  Punctuation 

If  the  latter  sentence  affects  the  reader  "primarily,  emo- 
tionally, ' '  the  emotion  is  unsympathetic. 

It  is  significant  that  the  success  of  a  parody  depends 
largely  on  the  accuracy  with  which  it  produces  the  intervals 
and  emphasis — and  the  punctuation — of  the  original.  The 
typographical  abominations  entitled  Molly  Make-Believe 
and  The  Sick-a-Bed  Lady  could  not  well  be  parodied  with- 
out liberal  use  of  hyphens,  exclamation  marks,  and  dashes 
of  at  least  two  lengths.  They  illustrate  what  Mrs.  Mala- 
prop  may  have  meant  by  "female  punctuation." 

DESIGN  IN  PUNCTUATION 

It  is  obvious  that  the  first  impression  of  a  page  is  gained 
from  the  design  rather  than  the  wording.  Says  Mr.  E.  A. 
Batchelder,  in  his  Principles  of  Design: 

We  have  to  judge  the  personality  of  many  men  by  the  letters 
they  write.  .  .  .  It  is  disagreeable  to  have  a  man  shout 
at  our  ears — or  at  our  eyes  either.  Be  satisfied  with  a  simple, 
well-spaced  heading.  Then  think  carefully  of  the  body  of  the 
letter;  watch  the  margins  and  allow  a  bit  of  silence  all  about 
the  writing.  See  that  the  whole,  as  a  page,  is  well  spaced  and 
properly  balanced. 

The  appearance  of  a  printed  page  depends  mainly  on 
the  distribution  and  proportion  of  white  space ;  and  punc- 
tuation marks  contribute  to  the  effect  by  their  influence 
upon  the  alternation  of  black  and  white.  It  is  partly  on 
grounds  of  design  that  there  is  objection  to  numerous 
hyphen  breaks,  to  the  use  of  the  asterisk-index  series  of  ref- 
erence marks  in  place  of  superior  figures,  and  to  certain 
combinations  of  points.  Design  is  of  particular  importance 
in  relation  to  quote  marks.  It  is  for  the  sake  of  appearance 
that  the  comma  and  the  period  precede  the  final  double 


Design  and  Economy  45 

quote  according  to  the  practice  of  most  offices,  even  when 
the  meaning  would  suggest  the  reverse  order. 

The  setting  of  punctuation  marks  in  the  same  font  of 
type  with  what  precedes — roman  with  roman  or  italic  with 
italic — is  required  for  both  consistency  and  good  design. 

Questions  of  visual  effect  cannot  always  be  separated 
from  questions  of  economy  and  clearness.  An  elaborate 
succession  of  points  may  be  at  the  same  time  unpleasing  to 
the  eye  and  puzzling  or  labored. 


ECONOMY  IN  PUNCTUATION 

Modern  preference  favors  the  use  of  the  fewest  and  least 
obtrusive  marks  that  will  do  the  required  work.  As  a 
matter  of  course,  each  question  of  punctuation  is  to  be 
settled  on  the  merits  of  the  case.  If  a  semicolon  will  serve 
better  than  a  comma  to  make  clear  the  meaning  and  value 
of  a  pair  of  clauses,  the  semicolon  is  in  a  sense  lighter, 
because  it  saves  confusion.  Economy  consists  not  in  deny- 
ing one's  self  the  use  of  semicolons  or  exclamation  points, 
but  rather  in  the  use  of  the  points  most  suitable  to  the 
immediate  purpose. 

The  consideration  of  economy  will  often  suggest  the  use 
of  single  points  where  older  usage  preferred  arid  present 
usage  permits  two  points.  If  a  dash  will  do  the  same  work 
as  a  dash  and  comma  together,  the  dash  alone  is  better. 
For  a  similar  reason,  a  light  point  that  will  do  as  well  as 
a  stronger  point  is  preferable. 

Economy  of  pointing  is  conditioned  upon  directness  of 
style.  The  small  number  of  points  in  the  average  good 
sentence  today  may  be  explained  partly  by  the  avoidance 
of  structure  which  would  call  for  numerous  parenthetical 
or  series  points. 

An  elaborate  style  like  Pater's  will  require  much  punc- 


46  Modern  Punctuation 

tuation  even  when  Pater  is  writing  about  sentences  that 
need  no  punctuation. 

Say  what  you  have  to  say,  what  you  have  a  will  to  say,  in 
the  simplest,  the  most  direct  and  exact  manner  possible,  with 
no  surplusage: — there,  is  the  justification  of  the  sentence  so 
fortunately  born,  "entire,  smooth,  and  round,"  that  it  needs  no 
punctuation,  and  also  (that  is  the  point!)  of  the  most  elaborate 
period,  if  it  be  right  in  its  elaboration. — Essay  on  Style. 

Pater's  sentences  are  not  usually  of  the  "entire,  smooth, 
and  round"  variety.  The  first  139  sentences  of  the  Essay 
on  Style  carry  more  than  7  structural  points  per  sentence. 
The  New  York  Tribune  editorials  listed  in  Chapter  IX 
(page  251  below)  have  an  average  of  not  quite  1.9  points 
per  sentence. 

It  is  often  desirable  to  manage  so  that  a  point  will  serve 
for  two  purposes  at  once,  with  the  advantage  of  saving  an 
unnecessary  break.  In  this  sentence  from  page  17  of 
Mr.  Fred  Lewis  Pattee's  American  Literature  Since  1870, 
the  second  dash  marks  the  end  of  a  parenthesis  and  at  the 
same  time  a  clause  boundary: 

Wordsworth  at  the  opening  of  the  nineteenth  century  had 
protested  against  unreality  and  false  sentiment — "a  dressy  lit- 
erature, an  exaggerated  literature"  as  Bagehot  expressed  it — 
and  he  started  the  romantic  revolt  by  proposing  in  his  poems 
"to  choose  incidents  and  situations  from  common  life,  and  to 
relate  or  describe  them,  throughout,  as  far  as  was  possible  in  a 
selection  of  language  really  used  by  men." 

For  a  like  reason  there  may  be  advantage  in  placing 
quotations  so  that  the  quote  marks  will  come  at  structural 
breaks.  Reference  indexes,  such  as  asterisks  or  superior 
figures,  are  usually  least  obtrusive  if  placed  at  ends  of 
sentences. 


Variety  of  Points  and  Structure  47 

THE  CONSIDERATION  OP  VARIETY 

To  insist  on  variety  in  pointing  is  not  an  unnecessary 
refinement,  because  pointing  and  style  are  inseparable. 
Monotonous  pointing  is  a  symptom  of  indolence  or  poverty. 
The  excessive  frequency  of  dashes  or  curves  can  become  an 
intolerable  mannerism ;  and  even  the  recurrence  of  commas 
and  periods  at  noticeably  regular  intervals  may  be  as  awk- 
ward as  the  recurrence  of  set  phrases. 

Just  what  constitutes  monotony  will  depend  on  the  in- 
tervals at  which  points  occur  and  on  the  nature  and  the 
use  of  the  points  in  question.  A  passage  of  considerable 
length  may  be  pointed  with  nothing  but  periods  and  dashes 
without  becoming  at  all  monotonous.  On  the  other  hand, 
structure  and  points  may  be  so  combined  as  to  give  an 
impression  of  mechanical  sameness. 

The  counsel  of  variety  is  of  use  in  revision  rather  than 
in  the  first  stages  of  work.  Variety  need  not  always  be 
consciously  worked  for  in  advance  of  correction;  it  comes 
rather  as  a  by-product  of  good  management  in  respect  to 
such  things  as  clearness  and  emphasis.  A  good  way  to 
test  a  passage  for  variety  is  to  read  it  aloud. 


CHAPTER  IV 

PARAGRAPH  AND  SENTENCE  POINTING— THE 
POINTING  OF  MAIN  CLAUSES 

THE  practical  difficulties  of  punctuation  are  questions  of 
utility  which  frequently  involve  decisions  as  to  structure, 
and  not  punctuation  alone. 

The  apparent  weight  of  a  group  depends  partly  on  its 
structural  status  as  indicated  by  capitals,  pointing,  and 
form.  Other  things  equal,  a  sentence  is  rhetorically  supe- 
rior to  a  main  clause.  So  far  as  form  is  concerned,  a  main 
clause  outweighs  a  subordinate  clause ;  and  by  virtue  of  its 
finite  verb  a  clause  of  either  kind  is  superior  to  a  phrase. 
Such  things  as  context,  length,  or  phrasing  may  more  than 
make  up  the  difference;  but  under  like  conditions  formal 
rank  and  consequent  apparent  value  will  depend  on  the 
structural  rank  of  the  element  in  question.  The  following 
forms  distribute  emphasis  very  differently : 

The  Germans  give  due  weight  to  their  own  amiable  sentimental 
views  of  German  importance  and  destinies,  but  they  are  also 
guided  by  business  considerations. — New  York  Times,  June  10, 
1918. 

The  Germans  give  due  weight  to  their  own  amiable  sentimental 
views  of  German  importance  and  destinies.  But  they  are  also 
guided  by  business  considerations. 

Though  the  Germans  give  due  weight  to  their  own  amiable 
sentimental  views  of  German  importance  and  destinies,  they  are 
not  unmindful  of  business  considerations. 

48 


Sentences,  Clauses,  Phrases  49 

The  two-sentence  form  gives  increased  emphasis  to  both 
parts.  The  form  beginning  with  though  makes  the  first 
clause  subordinate,  suspending  attention  for  the  sake  of 
massing  emphasis  upon  the  following  main  clause. 

The  various  ranks  of  sentence  and  sentence  elements 
afford  wide  latitude  of  choice.  A  given  notion,  like  This  is 
a  mistake,  may  appear  in  at  least  the  following  variety  of 
forms : 

As  a  sentence,  full  or  elliptical:  This  is  a  mistake.  What  a 
queer  mistake!  Isn't  this  a  mistake? 

As  a  main  clause,  full  or  elliptical:  He  says  the  plans  are 
ready;  but  that  is  a  mistake.  He  says  the  plans  are  ready;  a 
serious  mistake. 

As  a  parenthetical  clause :  He  says — but  I  know  him  to  be  mis- 
taken— that  the  plans  are  ready. 

As  a  subordinate  clause:  Though  he  is  mistaken,  I  think  he 
is  sincere. 

As  an  absolute  phrase :  That  being  a  mistake,  we  must  change 
our  plan. 

As  an  adverbial  phrase:  By  that  mistake  he  has  spoiled  a 
whole  day's  work. 

As  a  noun  phrase :  This  mistake  has  obscured  the  nature  of  the 
problem. 

As  an  adjective  or  adjective  phrase :  This  mistaken  plan  must 
be  changed.  Having  been  mistaken,  we  must  change  our  plan. 

But  the  distinctions  of  main  clause,  subordinate  clause, 
and  other  elements  cannot  be  rigidly  applied  to  questions  of 
rhetoric.  For  purposes  of  punctuation  a  clause  technically 
subordinate  can  be  rhetorically  a  main  clause,  even  a  sen- 
tence. Such  circumstances  as  length,  position,  or  content 
may  make  a  subordinate  element  coordinate  with  a  prin- 
cipal clause.  An  expression  like  No  or  As  you  please  may 
properly  stand  as  a  sentence. 

In  the  sentence  below,  the  group  following  the  semicolon 


50  Modern  Punctuation 

is  treated  as  a  main  clause  though  technically  a  mere 
phrase : 

Not  many  men  to-day  have  the  patience  to  read  far  in  the  end- 
less theological  literature  of  that  age;  and  with  reason. — Paul 
Elmer  More,  The  Drift  of  Romanticism,  p.  228. 

The  value  and  effectiveness  of  a  group  will  depend  only 
in  part  on  its  grammatical  status  or  the  other  circumstances 
that  contribute  to  its  degree  of  prominence.  It  may  happen 
that  a  casual  reference,  a  word  in  passing,  will  be  more 
effective  than  direct  assertion.  In  the  following  sentence 
an  important  idea  is  slipped  in  as  if  a  light  parenthesis : 

As  it  was,  Germany — in  the  way  of  business — wired  and  lit 
(and  examined)  the  forts  at  Liege.— H.  G.  Wells,  What  Is  Com- 
ing? (p.  104). 

I.   PARAGRAPH  POINTING 

Though  paragraph  pointing  is  not  a  customary  name,  it 
is  the  name  of  a  familiar  thing.  An  entire  paragraph  may 
be  enclosed  in  quote  marks,  curves,  or  brackets.  A  colon  or 
dash  may  indicate  a  relation  between  paragraphs.  And 
where  a  paragraph  consists  of  a  single  sentence,  the  sen- 
tence point  is  also  the  paragraph  point. 

What  is  more  important,  punctuation  indicates  relations 
within  the  paragraph.  It  often  helps  to  mark  the  boundary 
between  introductory  and  developing  matter  or  between 
development  and  conclusion.  It  also  helps  to  show  what 
parts  of  the  paragraph  are  subordinate  or  parenthetical 
and  what  are  principal.  Punctuation  is  an  aid  to  suspen- 
sion in  the  paragraph,  an  indication  of  relative  weights  of 
emphasis,  an  aid  to  movement. 

A  paragraph  in  Mr.  Arnold  Bennett 's  Books  and  Persons 


Paragraph  Pointing  51 

(page  39),  beginning  thus,  might  be  differently  pointed  save 
for  considerations  which  look  beyond  the  two  sentences 
here  quoted: 

"A  Set  of  Six"  will  not  count  among  Mr.  Conrad's  major  works. 
But  in  the  mere  use  of  English  it  shows  an  advance  upon  all 
his  previous  books. 

The  group  beginning  But  in  the  mere  use  of  English 
might  be  separated  from  the  preceding  words  by  a  comma 
or  semicolon,  except  for  being  an  introduction  to  the 
remainder  of  the  paragraph.  The  sentences  thereafter 
dwell  not  on  the  rank  of  the  book  but  on  Mr.  Conrad's  use 
of  English.  If  reduced  to  the  rank  of  a  clause,  the  group 
would  not  be  prominent  enough  for  its  work  in  the  para- 
graph. The  decision  in  such  a  case  can  be  made  only  with 
reference  to  the  context. 

The  following  passage  from  an  editorial  in  the  New  York 
Globe  (June  1,  1918)  might  be  pointed  differently;  but 
any  change  from  period  to  comma  or  comma  to  semicolon 
would  change  the  distribution  of  emphasis. 

Against  the  German  attack,  made  possible  by  the  peace  of 
Brest-Litovsk,  the  Allies  have  placed  themselves  under  a  single 
command.  General  Foch  is  not  a  trench  fighter.  The  problem  he 
had  to  consider  when  determining  his  strategy  was  unlike  the 
problem  before  the  German  staff  after  the  Marne,  the  men  he 
commanded  were  of  a  different  temper.  Above  all  he  must  keep 
armies  intact.  Fighting  in  fixed  position,  he  ran  the  risk  of  a 
fatal  breach  a  heavily  reinforced  foe  might  make.  .  .  . 

If  the  third  sentence  were  isolated  it  probably  would  be 
pointed  with  semicolon,  or  divided  into  two  sentences;  but 
in  the  actual  context  the  comma  is  best  for  movement  and 
for  proper  management  of  emphasis. 


52  Modern  Punctuation 

POINTS  AND  PARAGRAPH  MOVEMENT 

By  exhibiting  the  structural  divisions  of  the  paragraph, 
and  by  contributing  to  suspension  and  the  distribution  of 
emphasis,  judicious  punctuation  is  an  important  aid  to 
movement.  On  the  other  hand,  misused  points  distort 
emphasis  and  make  the  paragraph  monotonous  or  halting. 

The  effect  of  punctuation  marks  on  tone  and  movement, 
and  their  use  for  paragraph  suspension,  may  be  observed  in 
the  following  paragraph  from  an  article  by  Mr.  W.  R. 
Thayer  in  the  Saturday  Evening  Post  for  February  16, 
1918. 

Very  pretty  disavowals  and  surprising  insinuations!  Butv 
methinks  the  Kaiser  did  protest  too  much.  What  was  his  plot? 
What  did  his  camouflage  hide  with  intent  to  deceive?  His  secret 
purpose  has  been  dissected  with  a  surgeon's  skill  and  dispassion- 
ateness by  Mr.  Andre  Cheradame,  and  I  will  content  myself  here 
with  only  an  outline  of  his  conclusions. 

The  transitional  group  in  the  paragraph  just  quoted  is  an 
elliptical  exclamatory  sentence.  The  introductory  sentence 
proper  (But  methinks  the  Kaiser  did  protest  too  much)  is 
declarative,  in  a  somewhat  quieter  tone.  The  next  two  sen- 
tences are  suspensive  by  aid  of  interrogative  form  and 
pointing.  The  last  sentence  of  the  paragraph  carries  over 
to  the  succeeding  passage  the  accumulated  force  of  the  sus- 
pension. 

In  the  following  paragraph  there  is  a  case  of  sentence 
series,  the  parallelism  of  form  being  an  aid  to  the  movement 
of  the  paragraph : 

In  advertising  print,  typography  is  merely  the  servant  of  the 
advertising  idea.  It  should  not  exist  for  itself  at  all.  It  should 
never  obtrude  by  a  display  of  dexterity  for  its  own  sake.  It  is 


Influence  of  Context  53 

merely  the  medium  through  which  an  advertising  idea  is  ^iven 
that  physical  form  which  helps  the  reader  to  grasp  in  the  least 
time  and  with  the  least  effort  what  is  being  said  to  him; — Benjamin 
Sherbow,  Making  Type  Work,  p.  7. 

Points  affect  movement,  and  movement  reacts  upon  point- 
ing. The  following  sentence,  from  page  180  of  Miss  Agnes 
Repplier's  Americans  and  Others,  may  seem  strange  with 
this  punctuation : 

It  voices  desires  and  dignities  without  number,  it  subjects  the 
importance  of  the  thing  done  to  the  importance  of  the  manner 
of  doing  it. 

The  sentence  out  of  its  context  seems  careless;  but 
actually  the  pointing  is  the  best  for  the  purpose.  The  par- 
allelism of  the  sentences  and  the  momentum  of  the  para- 
graph make  the  light  pointing  adequate.  The  first  half  of 
the  paragraph  reads  as  follows : 

The  symbolism  of  dress  is  a  subject  which  has  never  received  its 
due  share  of  attention,  yet  it  stands  for  attributes  in  the  human 
race  which  otherwise  defy  analysis.  It  is  interwoven  with  all 
our  carnal  and  with  all  our  spiritual  instincts.  It  represents 
a  cunning  triumph  over  hard  conditions,  a  turning  of  needs  into 
victories.  It  voices  desires  and  dignities  without  number,  it  sub- 
jects the  importance  of  the  thing  done  to  the  importance  of  the 
manner  of  doing  it. 

Of  the  many  relations  of  punctuation  within  the  para- 
graph, only  one  more  need  be  noticed  for  the  present — the 
parenthetical  relation.  In  the  first  of  the  following  pas- 
sages the  parenthesis  belongs  to  the  sentence.  In  the  second,, 
the  sentence  in  curves  is  parenthetical  to  the  paragraph. 

Yet  here,  in  this  everyday  setting,  and  entirely  unexpectedly 
(for  I  had  never  dreamed  of  such  a  thing),  my  eyes  were  opened, 


54  Modern  Punctuation 

and  for  the  first  time  in  all  my  life  I  caught  a  glimpse  of  the 
ecstatic  beauty  of  reality. — Margaret  P.  Montague,  Twenty  Min- 
utes of  Reality,  p.  7f. 

Perhaps,  too,  this  may  be  the  great  difference  between  the 
saints  and  the  Puritans.  Both  are  agreed  that  goodness  is  the 
means  to  the  end,  but  the  saints  have  passed  on  to  the  end  and 
entered  into  the  realization,  and  are  happy.  (One  of  the  most 
endearing  attributes  of  saints  of  a  certain  type  was — or  rather  is, 
for  one  refuses  to  believe  that  saints  are  all  of  the  past — their 
childlike  gayety,  which  can  proceed  only  from  a  happy  and  trust- 
ful heart.)  The  Puritan,  on  the  other  hand,  has  stuck  fast  in  the 
means — is  still  worrying  over  the  guide-posts,  and  is  distrustful 
and  over-anxious. — Ib.,  p.  27f. 


POINTS  SHOWING  RELATIONS  BETWEEN  PARAGRAPHS 

Punctuation  marks  are  used  to  show  relations  not  only 
within  but  between  paragraphs.  A  paragraph  which  is 
parenthetical  to  a  passage  is  sometimes  enclosed  in  curves, 
though  its  relation  is  more  often  indicated  by  wording,  as 
by  the  formula  be  it  said  in  passing.  And  sometimes  para- 
graphs are  in  appositive  or  suspended  relation. 

Paragraph  suspension  is  often  marked  by  the  colon,  some- 
times by  the  dash,  rarely  by  semicolon  or  comma. 

The  paragraph  colon  and  the  nearly  obsolete  paragraph 
semicolon  are  thus  used  in  an  old  textbook: 

Abnormal  modifications  of  the  predicate  are  of  three  classes : — 

1.  Other  parts  of  speech  used  as  adverbs; 

2.  Phrases; 

3.  Clauses. 

In  such  tabulated  matter  modern  printers  prefer  to 
point  divisions  with  the  period,  a  better  arrangement 
because  by  comparison  the  period  is  not  suspensive.  Sus- 
pension maintained  through  tabulated  matter  is  anomalous. 


Paragraph  Colon  and  Dash  55 

The  paragraph  colon — often  with  an  unnecessary  dash — 
is  common  before  quoted  passages  or  other  matter  formally 
introduced.  Sometimes  also  it  is  used  before  original  mat- 
ter. The  following  is  from  an  editorial  in  a  popular  maga- 
zine: 

War  will  bring  great  changes.  There  is  much  speculation  as 
to  what  they  will  be  in  this  direction  or  that.  One  thing  is  already 
fairly  settled: 

War  marks  the  end  of  the  regime  of  individualistic  unlimited 
competition.  Its  demonstration  of  the  advantages  of  rational 
cooperation,  as  opposed  to  our  legal  insistence  upon  competi- 
tion always  and  everywhere,  is  too  overwhelming  to  be  obscured. 

The  use  of  the  colon  in  this  passage  is  highly  formal.  Most 
introductory  sentences  followed  by  matter  not  quoted  or 
tabulated  take  the  period. 

The  paragraph  dash  is  sometimes  used  for  paragraph 
suspension  after  such  a  formula  as  It  is  held  or  Provided. 
In  the  following  sentence,  on  the  contrary,  the  dashes  are 
used  not  after  an  introductory  formula  but  between  the 
members  of  a  series  divided  into  paragraphs. 

If  a  man  is  not  thrilled  by  intimate  contact  with  nature :  with 
the  sun,  with  the  earth,  which  is  his  origin  and  the  arouser  of  his 
acutest  emotions — 

If  he  is  not  troubled  by  the  sight  of  beauty  in  many  forms — 

If  he  is  of  those  who  talk  about  "this  age  of  shams,"  "this  age 
without  ideals,"  "this  hysterical  age,"  and  this  heaven-knows- 
what-age — 

Then  that  man,  though  he  reads  undisputed  classics  for  twenty 
hours  a  day,  though  he  has  a  memory  of  steel,  though  he  rivals 
Person  in  scholarship  and  Sainte  Beuve  in  judgment,  is  not  receiv- 
ing from  literature  what  literature  has  to  give. — Arnold  Bennett, 
Literary  Taste,  p.  116. 


56  Modern  Punctuation 

In  general,  relations  between  paragraphs  are  most  often 
indicated  without  the  mechanical  device  of  suspension 
pointing. 


PARAGRAPHS  AND  PARAGRAPHING 

Like  punctuation,  paragraphing  exhibits  grouping  or 
determines  apparent  grouping.  The  difference  is  that 
usually  the  groups  concerned  are  larger  and  the  breaks 
more  emphatic. 

A  paragraph  is  a  sentence  or  group  of  sentences — in  rare 
cases  less  than  a  sentence — standing  to  itself  as  an  indepen- 
dent composition  or  as  part  of  a  composition.  In  the  latter 
case  each  paragraph  is  customarily  marked  off  from  the 
preceding  paragraph  by  indention,  or  initial  white  space, 
the  first  line  of  each  paragraph  being  set  in  from  the  margin 
line.  In  most  cases  there  is  also  a  remainder  of  white  space 
at  the  end  of  the  last  line. 

In  some  books  and  magazines  the  first  paragraph  of  a 
chapter  is  not  indented ;  and  sometimes,  especially  in  poster 
and  advertisement  work,  indention  is  made  unnecessary  by 
extra  white  space  between  paragraphs.  In  solid  typewrit- 
ten matter  it  is  frequently  desirable  to  space  the  paragraphs 
apart  besides  indenting  first  lines. 

Division  into  paragraphs  must  be  decided  mainly  by 
individual  cases.  The  principal  considerations  are  as  fol- 
lows: 

1.  Paragraph  division  serves  its  purpose  so  far  as  it 
enables  the  reader  to  follow  the  thought  with  interest  and 
understanding.  If  paragraphs  are  so  long  or  so  short  as  to 
obscure  the  relation  and  relative  weight  of  the  "parts,  the 
paragraphing  is  bad.  There  is  no  fixed  position  for  topical 
or  summarizing  matter,  nor  is  there  any  best  method  or  set 
of  methods  of  paragraph  construction. 


Paragraphing  57 

2.  A  paragraph  sets  off  a  group  which  presumably  con- 
stitutes a  unit  of  thought.    A  paragraph  should  therefore 
be  so  composed  as  to  be  and  seem  sufficient  to  its  purpose 
and  free  from  extraneous  matter.    But  unity  is  far  from 
being  the  decisive  consideration  in  paragraphing.    Whether 
a  sentence  or  passage  shall  be  set  off  as  a  paragraph  must 
be  decided  partly  on  grounds  of  emphasis  and  movement. 
Such  a  group  as  the  summary  of  a  long  passage  may  require 
emphasis  by  paragraphing  in  order  to  make  clear  its  func- 
tion in  the  context. 

3.  A  sentence  or  group  of  sentences  is  usually  more 
emphatic  or  at  least  more  distinct  if  separately  paragraphed 
than  if  combined  with  other  sentences.    But  the  more  fre- 
quent  the   paragraph   breaks,    tha   less   each   counts   for 
emphasis. 

4.  Paragraphing  has  an  effect  on  the  movement  of  com- 
position.   Frequent  paragraphing  may  become  choppy  and 
falsely  emphatic;  but  matter  which  is  to  be  read  rapidly 
may  be  most  effective  in  short  paragraphs.     Problems  of 
paragraphing  are  problems  of  thought  and  adaptation,  not 
of  conformity  to  rule. 

5.  The  proper  paragraph  length  depends  partly  on  the 
width  of  lines  or  the  size  of  pages.     In  narrow  measure 
or  on  short  pages  paragraphs  should  be  somewhat  shorter 
than  ordinarily.    According  to  Mr.  W.  G.  Bleyer  ( Types  of 
News  Writing,  p.  11),  the  typical  newspaper  paragraph 
varies  from  35  to  75  words,  as  against  150  to  250  in  ordi- 
nary prose.    But  this  difference  is  due  only  in  part  to  line 
length.  x  Perhaps   the  main   explanation  is  that  popular 
newspapers  are  intended  to  be  read  rapidly  by  all  sorts  of 
people  and  with  the  least  possible  exertion.    In  some  of  the 
most  readable  newspapers,  on  the  contrary,  paragraphs  in 
the  leading  editorials  (as  opposed  to  the  detached  composi- 
tions known  specifically  as  "paragraphs")  are  often  long. 


58  Modern  Punctuation 

For  example,  in  the  New  York  Times  for  June  14,  1918, 
paragraphs  in  the  leading  editorials  average  about  21  lines 
and  about  131  words,  extracts  being  excluded  from  the 
estimate. 

6.  In  dialogue  it  is  customary  to  make  a  new  paragraph 
for  each  change  of  speaker,  but  this  is  far  from  being  an 
invariable  rule.  Sometimes  quote  marks,  mid-paragraph 
dashes,  or  the  words  Question  and  Answer  are  held  sufficient 
for  grouping. 


POINTS  AND  PARAGRAPH  STRUCTURE 

Parts  of  a  paragraph  may  be  labeled  topical,  developing, 
concluding,  or  transitional,  though  two  or  more  functions 
may  be  performed  by  the  same  set  of  words.  The  structural 
lines  may  be  difficult  to  discern,  and  properly  so.  Where 
lightness  and  informality  are  requisite,  it  may  be  well  to 
reduce  formal  introduction  and  summarizing  to  a  minimum. 
Transitions  likewise  should  often  be  managed  with  the  least 
possible  formality.  But  in  any  case  the  paragraph  should 
be  clear  as  a  whole,  and  the  parts  should  work  together  to 
their  common  end. 


THE  MID-PARAGRAPH 

As  a  rule  in  modern  typography,  division  within  the 
paragraph  is  effected  by  wording  and  the  ordinary  sentence 
points.  A  new  subtopic  may  be  introduced  by  a  connective 
phrase  like  on  the  other  ~hand,  or  informally  without  any 
device  which  would  call  attention  to  the  framework  of  the 
paragraph.  If  the  meaning  is  clear  the  plan  may  be  kept 
out  of  sight.  Change  from  topic  to  topic  may  be  made  suf- 
ficcntly  clear  by  a  change  from  interrogative  to  declarative 
form,  or  without  change  of  sentence  type  at  all. 


Mid-Paragraph  Points  59 

A  device  once  common  but  seldom  used  today  save  in 
crowded  composition  is  the  mid-paragraph  dash — a  dash 
reinforcing  a  full  stop.  The  following  specimen  is  from 
page  171  of  Samuel  Butler's  Erewhon  Revisited: 

"There,"  said  my  father,  "you  confirm  an  opinion  that  I  have 
long  held. — Nothing  is  so  misleading  as  the  testimony  of  eye- 
witnesses." 

A  device  which  is  becoming  familiar  in  America  is  the 
use  of  reinforcing  suspension  periods — a  row  of  dots, 
usually  three — to  strengthen  or  modify  a  period  or  other 
full  stop.  The  period  is  a  sign  of  completion ;  the  period 
with  suspension  points  following  is  made  suspensive,  with 
the  suggestion  that  the  reader  is  to  think  a  moment  about 
the  preceding  words,  or  to  look  forward  with  special  inter- 
est. Mr.  Edwin  E.  Slosson  says  of  Mr.  H.  G.  Wells:  "In 
the  midst  of  his  most  eloquent  passages  he  stops,  shakes  his 
head,  runs  in  a  row  of  dots,  and  adds  a  few  words,  hinting 
at  another  point  of  view."  The  following  paragraph  of 
dialogue  is  from  a  novel  by  Mr.  Wells: 

"You  see,"  said  Mr.  Britling,  trying  to  get  it  into  focus,  "I 
have  known  quite  decent  Germans.  There  must  be  some  sort  of 
misunderstanding.  ...  I  wonder  what  makes  them  hate  us. 
There  seems  to  me  no  reason  in  it." 

The  suspension  periods  are  not  likely  to  mark  a  distinct 
topical  break ;  they  are  indefinite  signs  of  meditation. 

There  are  many  good  writers  who  do  not  use  suspensioc 
periods  under  any  circumstances. 


II.   SENTENCE  POINTING 

Terminal  or  sentence  points  mark  a  sentence  as  either 
complete  or  abruptly  left  incomplete,  so  that  following 
matter  will  begin  with  a  capital. 


60  Modern  Punctuation 

1 '  Sentence ' '  will  be  used  equally  of  full  sentences  and  of 
broken  or  elliptical  expressions  displayed  as  sentences  by 
initial  capital  and  by  terminal  pointing.  As  both  conver- 
sation and  writing  go  largely  in  remarks  not  fully  equipped 
with  subject  and  predicate,  the  pointing  of  elliptical  sen- 
tences as  if  in  regular  form  need  not  be  disturbing.  There 
is  much  use  of  clipped  sentences  even  in  careful  editorial 
and  essay  writing. 

Sentences  may  be  pointed  with  period,  question  mark, 
exclamation  mark,  colon  (capital  or  paragraph  break  fol- 
lowing), dash,  or  suspension  periods.  Suspension  periods 
are  used  either  alone  or  reinforcing  an  ordinary  full  stop ; 
and  the  dash  is  also  used,  though  rarely  in  book  text,  as 
reinforcement  of  a  full  stop.  A  terminal  point  may  have 
with  it  a  parenthetical  point  or  a  quote  mark;  but  since 
these  are  not  terminal  points  they  will  be  included  else- 
where. 

SENTENCE  LENGTH 

Good  sentences  vary  greatly  in  length.  The  number  of 
words  a  sentence  can  advantageously  carry  is  not  subject 
to  rule;  it  depends  on  the  circumstances  of  the  individual 
case,  among  them  the  movement  of  the  passage  and  the 
requirements  of  emphasis.  The  length  of  an  individual 
sentence  is  determined  by  considerations  of  clearness,  effec- 
tive unity,  variety,  and  emphasis,  all  of  these  with  reference 
to  the  meaning  and  desired  tone  of  the  passage.  In  adver- 
tisements and  some  kinds  of  newspaper  writing  the  average 
sentence  is  much  shorter  than  in  most  book  prose ;  but  the 
popular  notion  that  newspaper  sentences  are  usually  short 
is  an  error.  The  characteristic  of  the  best  newspaper  sen- 
tence type  is  not  brevity  but  directness. 

The  long  sentence  gives  opportunity  for  suspension  and 
qualification.  The  short  sentence  is  useful  for  such  pur- 


Complete  Sentences  61 

poses  as  abrupt  emphasis  and  emphatic  transition  or  sum- 
mary. The  abuse  of  either  kind  results  in  monotony  and 
bad  management  of  emphasis. 

Sentences  with  their  terminal  pointing  may  be  considered 
under  three  heads:  (1)  complete  sentences,  elliptical  sen- 
tences included,  (2)  sentences  abruptly  left  incomplete,  and 
(3)  suspended  sentences.  The  familiar  terms  declarative, 
interrogative,  and  exclamatory  will  be  used,  but  with  refer- 
ence to  meaning  rather  than  form. 

1.    COMPLETE  SENTENCES 

An  ordinary  declarative  or  imperative  sentence,  full  or 
elliptical,  is  pointed  with  the  period.  But  a  declarative  or 
imperative  sentence  which  is  intended  to  be  very  emphatic 
or  strongly  exclamatory  may  take  the  exclamation  mark. 
The  following  passage  is  from  an  editorial  in  the  New  York 
Evening  Post  for  March  26,  1918 : 

Why  talk  longer  of  concessions  to  the  enemy,  or  of  peace  nego- 
tiations, when  stark  force  might  make  them  absolute  masters'? 
Give  up  Belgium?  Nay,  rather,  seize  more  of  France.  Listen  to 
the  counsels  of  moderation?  On  the  contrary,  strike  right  and 
left  like  the  devils  of  hell,  and  give  God  all  the  praise! 

A  sentence  declarative  in  form  but  interrogative  in  pur- 
pose takes  the  question  mark.  The  form  of  He  is  ready? 
is  declarative,  but  the  meaning  requires  the  question  mark. 

The  indirect  question  does  not  often  make  its  sentence 
interrogative.  /  asked  him  what  he  meant  by  his  message 
is  not  a  question  but  an  assertion  about  a  question,  the  ques- 
tion being  given  only  in  substance.  On  the  contrary,  a 
declarative  sentence  ending  with  a  direct  question  takes  the 
question  mark,  which  points  at  once  the  quoted  matter  and 
the  sentence.  The  same  practice  is  followed  in  the  case  of 
quoted  exclamations. 


62  Modern  Punctuation 

He  suddenly  asked  me,  "What  are  you  doing  here?" 

"You  give  no  drugs,  Doctor,"  he  complained.  "You're  a  scab 
on  the  profession!" — Robert  Herrick,  The  Master  of  the  Inn, 
p.  52f. 

Though  sentences  interrogative  in  form  are  usually 
pointed  with  the  question  mark,  the  length  and  meaning 
may  make  the  period  preferable. 

Was  it  in  consequence  of  such  injunctions  that  an  address 
dealing  with  the  causes  of  the  war  delivered  by  a  distinguished 
professor  of  history  elicited  from  a  woman  of  notoriously  German 
sympathies  the  comment,  "It  was  fine;  he  balanced  things  so 
beautifully."— W.  H.  Hobbs,  in  the  New  York  Tribune,  April 
16, 1918. 

The  length  of  the  sentence  and  the  declarative  form  of  the 
quotation  make  the  period  preferable. 

In  the  following  sentence  interrogative  form  is  merely 
a  form  of  courtesy.  The  period  is  better  than  the  question 
mark  would  be. 

Will  you  please  quote  prices  for  (1)  200  copies  in  paper, 
(2)  300  copies  in  regular  cloth  binding,  and  (3)  25  copies  in 
library  binding. 

The  typical  exclamatory  form  appears  in  the  sentence 
What  a  price  to  pay!  But  since  pointing  is  likely  to  be 
determined  by  meaning  rather  than  form,  a  sentence  out- 
wardly declarative  or  interrogative  may  be  pointed  as  an 
exclamation. 

"Am  I  cold!"  Edwin  repeated. — Arnold  Bennett,  These  Twain, 
p.  405. 

Edwin's  words  mean  "Of  course  I  am  cold." 


Broken  Sentences  63 

The  choice  between  question  and  exclamation  mark  may 
be  far  from  obvious,  as  in  this: 

The  enemy  that  comes  to  her  [England]  as  a  visible  host  or 
armada  she  can  still  close  with  and  throttle;  but  when  the  foe 
arrives  as  an  arrow  that  flieth  by  night,  what  avail  the  old  sinews, 
the  old  stoutness  of  heart! — John  Erskine,  The  Moral  Obligation 
to  Be  Intelligent,  p.  25. 

The  form  of  the  following  sentence  is  exclamatory,  but 
the  point  used  is  the  period.  The  exclamation  mark  would 
be  unnecessarily  strong. 

Still,  when  something  is  said  of  a  man's  stamina,  how  small 
is  the  number  of  those  to  whom  it  occurs  that  stamina  is  a  plural. 
—Thomas  R.  Lounsbury,  The  Standard  of  Usage  in  English, 
p.  156. 

In  sentences  of  mixed  type,  as  part  declarative  and  part 
interrogative,  the  final  clause  determines  the  sentence  point- 
ing. 

The  thing  is  preposterous  and  impossible;  and  yet  is  not  that 
what  the  whole  course  and  action  of  the  German  armies  has  meant 
wherever  they  have  moved? — From  a  speech  by  President  Wilson, 
as  reported  in  a  newspaper. 

If  the  last  clause  of  a  compound  sentence  is  clearly  exclama- 
tory, the  terminal  point  is  the  exclamation  mark. 


2.   UNCOMPLETED  SENTENCES 

To  mark  a  sentence  as  incomplete  the  usual  mark  is  the 
dash,  the  length  of  the  dash  being  according  to  office  rules. 
With  the  dash  there  may  be  a  question  or  exclamation  mark 
to  designate  the  character  of  the  sentence.  The  dash  is 
sometimes  replaced  by  suspension  periods. 


64  Modern  Punctuation 

She  had  meant,  she  owned,  to  glance  through  the  book;  but 
she  had  been  so  absorbed  in  a  novel  of  Trollope's  that — 

"No  one  reads  Trollope  now,"  Mrs.  Ballinger  interrupted. — 
Edith  Wharton,  Xingu,  p.  7. 

And  for  an  ending : — "Her  tremulous  eyes  sought  his ;  breath- 
ing a  sigh  she  murmured  ..."  0  succession  of  dots,  charged 
with  significance  vague  but  tremendous,  there  were  to  be  many  of 
you  in  my  novel,  because  you  play  so  important  a  part  in  the 
literature  of  the  country  of  Victor  Hugo  and  M.  Loubet ! — Arnold 
Bennett,  The  Truth  about  an  Author,  p.  63f. 

Where  a  sentence  is  broken  in  fiction  dialogue,  the  dash 
used  at  the  point  of  interruption  is  sometimes  repeated 
where  the  sentence  is  resumed.  The  pointing  of  fiction, 
especially  of  dialogue,  is  likely  to  be  more  "rhetorical," 
according  to  the  old  use  of  the  word,  than  that  of  ordinary 
text. 

The  dash  as  a  terminal  point  is  customarily  used  without 
additional  period. 

3.    SUSPENDED  SENTENCES 

The  sentence  is  often  defined  as  a  group  of  words  express- 
ing a  complete  thought.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  sentences  are 
sometimes  pointed  with  marks  of  incompletion  or  suspen- 
sion. 

There  are  two  types  of  suspension.  A  full  sentence  may 
have  suspension  periods  which  suggest  a  meditative  pause, 
the  suspension  periods  being  used  either  alone  or  in  addi- 
tion to  another  terminal  point.  In  the  other  type  of  sus- 
pension a  dependent  group,  preceded  by  a  colon  or  other 
mark,  is  capitalized  or  even  set  as  a  new  paragraph. 

The  following  sentences  employ  terminal  suspension 
periods : 

In  reply  he  talked  about  literary  cranks.  He  spoke  of  how 
Thoreau,  with  his  long  hair  and  ugly  looks,  frightened  strangers 


Cases  of  Suspension  65 

who  suddenly  met  him  in  the  woods.  I  thanked  him  for  light  on 
Thoreau.  .  .  .  But  he  had  to  admit  that  my  hair  was  short. — 
Vachel  Lindsay,  A  Handy  Guide  for  Beggars,  p.  82. 

"Les  forts  tiennent  tou jours!" But  we  had  seen  no 

soldiers  save  Belgians,  though  a  few  German  prisoners  were 
brought  in;  they  thought  that  they  were  in  France  and  expressed 
surprise  that  Paris  was  not  larger. — Brand  Whitlock,  "Belgium," 
in  Everybody's  Magazine,  March,  1918. 

In  the  second  passage  the  suspension  periods  are  used  in 
a  group  of  five.  Groups  of  three  are  more  usual,  as  in  the 
quotation  from  Mr.  Lindsay. 

Where  the  following  matter  is  dependent,  suspension  is 
usually  managed  with  the  colon,  less  often  with  the  dash, 
seldom  with  other  points  unless  the  following  matter  is 
quoted. 

The  following  sentences  from  Dr.  A.  S.  Cook's  Higher 
Study  of  English  (pages  92,  109,  and  59)  exemplify  three 
ways  of  managing  expressions  capable  of  being  suspended : 

Now  here  belongs  a  truth  which  is  frequently  overlooked.  It 
is  this:  One  does  not  truly  and  completely  know  a  word,  as 
Lord  Chatham  and  Tennyson  knew  words,  save  through  contrast 
and  comparison. 

I  have  said  that,  in  my  opinion,  there  are  three  classes  of  men 
who,  beyond  any  others,  raise  the  human  species  out  of  savagery, 
or  prevent  it  from  relapsing  into  that  state.  These,  I  repeat, 
are  the  ministers  of  religion,  the  poets — a  kind  of  generic  term 
which  designates  the  arts  in  general  by  the  chief  of  all  arts — and 
the  teachers  of  the  humanities. 

If  we  look  at  the  situation  largely,  this,  I  think,  may  fairly  be 
said  at  the  moment:  that  the  emphasis  is  upon  quantity  rather 
than  quality,  upon  phenomena  rather  than  principles,  upon  prac- 
tice rather  than  theory,  or  upon  the  science  rather  than  the  philos- 
ophy of  the  subject. 

In  the  first  passage  there  is  a  case  of  colon  suspension,  the 
following  group  being  capitalized  as  a  sentence.  In  the 


66  Modern  Punctuation 

second,  the  introductory  group  takes  the  period,  a  lighter 
point  because  non-suspensive.  In  the  third  passage  the 
introductory  words  are  pointed  with  the  colon ;  but  because 
the  following  group  is  not  capitalized  the  suspension  is 
less  emphatic  than  in  the  passage  where  the  colon  is  fol- 
lowed by  a  capital. 

Suspension  with  the  colon  between  sentences  may  be 
open  to  objection.  The  colon  gives  the  impression  of  saying 
to  the  reader,  "Look  closely;  important  matter  coming." 
In  the  great  majority  of  cases  introductory  matter,  save 
before  a  quotation  or  list,  is  better  pointed  with  period 
than  with  colon.  The  period  is  lighter  and  less  formal. 

The  dash  as  a  suspensive  mark  before  a  dependent  sen- 
tence is  more  abrupt  but  less  emphatic  than  the  colon.  It 
differs  from  the  period  in  being  suspensive.  For  lightness 
of  movement  the  period  is  obviously  better. 

It  is  clear  that  expectation  can  be  awakened  by  wording 
without  the  aid  of  unusual  devices  in  punctuation.  A  ques- 
tion or  an  ordinary  declarative  sentence  may  be  quite  suffi- 
cient. The  more  unobtrusively  such  things  are  managed, 
the  better  for  movement. 


THE  CHOICE  OF  SENTENCE  TYPES 

The  terminal  points  offer  room  for  considerable  latitude 
of  choice  in  sentence  types.  The  declarative  form  is  use- 
ful several  times  oftener  than  the  exclamatory  and  inter- 
rogative put  together;  but  questions  and  exclamations  are 
effective  out  of  proportion  to  their  frequency.  The  ques- 
tion mark  is  useful  for  informal  suspension,  the  exclama- 
tion mark  for  emphasis  or  irony,  both  of  them  for  variety 
of  tone  and  movement. 

For  abruptness  there  is  the  dash,  and  for  vague  impres- 
siveness — if  one  likes  that  sort  of  thing — there  are  suspen- 


Sentence  and  Clause  67 

sion  periods.     The  risk  in  using  these  points  is  that  the 
author  may  seem  too  much  pleased  with  his  own  eloquence. 


III.   THE  POINTING  OF  MAIN  CLAUSES 

It  is  often  difficult  to  choose  between  terminal  and  com- 
pounding points.  Either  a  sentence  or  a  clause  may  begin 
with  but,  and,  yet,  or  no  connective  at  all.  Nor  is  the  prin- 
ciple of  unity  decisive.  A  good  clause  is  no  less  a  unit  than 
a  good  sentence,  and  what  is  called  ' '  closeness  of  relation ' ' 
is  too  elastic  to  be  always  useful.  The  antithetical  relation 
may  be  shown  without  pointing,  or  with  comma,  semicolon, 
colon,  or  full  stop.  Antithesis  may  be  developed  by  the  two 
halves  of  a  paragraph,  or  by  contrasted  passages.  Each 
question  of  the  kind  has  to  be  settled  as  an  individual  case, 
with  a  view  to  clearness  and  effective  unity. 

In  either  of  the  following  cases  division  into  sentences 
would  be  possible,  and  in  a  different  context  might  be 
necessary  to  proper  management  of  emphasis. 

It  is  all  very  well  to  pour  oil  on  troubled  waters;  it  is  foolish- 
ness to  pour  it  on  wildfire. — Irvin  S.  Cobb,  "Speaking  of  Prus- 
sians—" (p.  49). 

In  one  sense,  it  is  impossible  to  learn  words  apart  from  ideas; 
for  a  word  will  convey  no  meaning  whatever  if  we  are  not  in 
some  way  acquainted — directly,  or  by  description,  or  by  inference 
— with  some  part  of  the  idea  for  which  it  stands. — William  Tenney 
Brewster,  Writing  English  Prose,  p.  233. 

A  long  group  is  more  likely  to  be  set  as  a  sentence  than 
a  shorter  group ;  but  length  is  only  one  circumstance  of  the 
case.  For  the  sake  of  emphasis  a  phrase  like  of  course 
may  be  given  sentence  rank ;  a  group  five  times  as  long  and 
equipped  with  subject  and  predicate  may  be  more  useful 
as  a  clause. 


68  Modern  Punctuation 

MAIN  CLAUSES  AND  COMPOUND  SENTENCES 

A  compound  sentence  consists  of  two  or  more  main 
clauses,  a  main  clause  being  one  which,  with  its  conjunction 
if  it  has  one,  could  stand  alone  as  a  sentence.  A  paren- 
thetical clause  does  not  count  as  a  main  clause,  whatever  its 
form. 

The  sentence  //  lie  comes  you  may  invite  Mm  to  stay  is 
not  a  compound  sentence,  the  first  clause  being  unable  to 
stand  alone  except  as  an  elliptical  sentence  with  main  clause 
implied  from  the  context.  But  the  parts  bounded  by  the 
semicolon  in  the  following  sentence  could  stand  as  inde- 
pendent sentences : 

In  the  bass  family,  as  the  popular  jingle  has  it,  nobody  works 
but  father;  he's  on  guard  all  day,  fins  in  constant  motion,  keep- 
ing the  foes  away. — From  an  editorial  in  the  New  York  Sun. 

If  any  clause  of  a  compound  sentence  carries  a  subordinate 
clause,  the  sentence  is  technically  "compound  complex," 
but  for  the  present  purpose  the  distinction  is  not  important. 

A  compound  sentence  may  contain  more  than  two  state- 
ments, besides  whatever  ideas  are  conveyed  in  subordi- 
nate elements.  The  possible  relations  between  clauses  are 
numerous. 

A  group  technically  subordinate  or  elliptical  may  be 
rhetorically  a  main  clause,  with  pointing  to  correspond. 

The  puppy  offers  no  sign  whatever;  just  lies  in  the  road. — 
Arnold  Bennett,  The  Author's  Craft,  p.  11. 

It  is  the  largest  and  fullest  picture  of  life  in  the  order  to  which 
it  belongs;  the  only  thing  that  shows  incontestably  the  power  of 
the  old  heroic  poetry  to  deal  on  a  fairly  large  scale  with  subjects 
taken  from  the  national  tradition. — W.  P.  Ker,  English  Litera- 
ture :  Medieval,  p.  30. 


Main-Clause  Points  69 

In  the  first  of  these  the  part  following  the  semicolon  has  a 
verb  but  no  subject.  In  the  second,  the  semicolon  is  fol- 
lowed by  a  group  which  may  be  called  an  elliptical  clause, 
though  technically  an  appositive  group. 

In  like  manner  it  is  often  necessary  to  treat  as  main 
clauses  such  subordinate  groups  as  relative  clauses.  Punc- 
tuation is  concerned  not  with  grammatical  but  with  rhetori- 
cal classification. 


THE  COMPOUNDING  POINTS 

The  points  used  between  main  clauses,  whether  full  or 
elliptical,  are  seldom  any  others  than  comma,  semicolon, 
colon,  dash. 

The  comma  is  the  lightest  and  least  specialized  of  the 
compounding  points,  and  the  most  frequent. 

The  semicolon  is  the  most  clearly  specialized  coordinating 
point.  It  is  specially  useful  for  balance  and  antithesis  and 
for  cases  of  compounding  in  which  a  second  clause  repeats 
with  addition  the  idea  of  a  clause  which  precedes.  It  is 
also  a  useful  compounding  mark  when  there  is  no  connec- 
tive between  clauses.  The  semicolon  is  not  ponderous 
unless  used  with  formal  wording  or  misused  in  place  of 
other  points. 

The  colon  is  usually  a  mark  of  apposition  or  expectation 
following  introductory  matter ;  but  sometimes  it  is  employed 
in  cases  for  which  the  more  frequent  mark  is  the  semi- 
colon. Like  the  semicolon  the  colon  may  be  at  the  same  time 
anticipatory  and  compounding.  Where  part  of  a  compound 
sentence  contains  a  semicolon,  the  colon  is  the  traditional 
mark  for  the  principal  break;  but  this  use  of  the  colon  is 
no  longer  common.  In  American  newspapers,  special  and 
foreign  articles  excepted,  the  compounding  colon  is  rare. 

The  dash  properly  marks  a  sudden  turn,  surprise,  or 


70  Modern  Punctuation 

interruption.  It  is  a  useful  compounding  point  where  the 
following  clause  is  in  a  sort  of  apposition  to  the  clause  which 
precedes.  The  unusual  combination  semicolon  with  dash 
is  a  variant  of  the  semicolon.  The  comma  with  dash  is  a 
variant  of  the  dash. 

In  rare  cases  question  and  exclamation  marks  are  used 
between  clauses. 

How  did  he  know  but  that  Hanky  and  Panky  might  have  driven 
over  from  Sunch'ston  to  see  Mr.  Turvey,  and  might  put  up  at 
this  very  house?  or  they  might  even  be  going  to  spend  the  night 
here. — Samuel  Butler,  Erewhon  Revisited,  p.  161. 

The  effect  of  the  compounding  exclamation  mark,  which  is 
even  less  common  than  the  compounding  question  mark, 
may  be  judged  from  the  following  passage  from  a  modern 
reprint  of  Beckford's  Vathek: 

"Still  more  misfortunes!"  cried  Morakanabad,  with  a  sigh. 
"Ah,  Commander  of  the  faithful,  our  holy  Prophet  is  certainly 
irritated  against  us!  it  behoves  you  to  appease  him." 

The  compounding  exclamation  mark  is  practically  obsolete, 
and  the  compounding  question  is  rare.  Neither  one  need 
be  mentioned  in  the  remainder  of  the  chapter. 

The  use  of  suspension  periods  at  clause  breaks  may  be 
occasionally  observed ;  but  this  pointing  is  so  infrequent  as 
to  be  rated  eccentric. 

Compound  sentences  may  be  considered  under  three 
heads:  sentences  with  "grammatical"  connectives,  those 
with  "logical"  connectives,  and  those  without  connectives 
at  clause  breaks.  The  points  used  often  enough  to  be 
counted  as  important  are  comma,  semicolon,  colon,  and 
dash.  More  than  a  mention  of  the  others  would  exaggerate 
their  present  usefulness. 


Two  Types  of  Connectives  71 

1.    COMPOUNDING  WITH  GRAMMATICAL  CONNECTIVE 

For  the  lack  of  a  better  name,  the  conjunctions  and,  but, 
for,  or,  and  nor  may  be  called  grammatical  connectives,  the 
name  used  by  Mr.  R.  D.  Miller  in  the  article  Coordination 
and  the  Comma,  which  is  listed  on  page  12  above.  Such 
connectives  as  nevertheless  and  therefore  will  be  called 
logical  connectives. 

Both  classes  of  connectives  may  be  used  between  clauses 
or  as  paragraph-transition  words;  but  the  grammatical 
connectives  are  more  frequently  employed  as  clause  links, 
and  their  use  often  permits  lighter  pointing  than  would  be 
desirable  with  the  logical  connectives. 

Where  a  grammatical  connective  is  present,  compounding 
is  sometimes  managed  without  pointing. 

I  looked  at  my  watch  and  it  was  close  to  five. — Simeon  Strun- 
sky,  Post-Impressions,  p.  10. 

We  went  over  our  list  of  books  for  the  summer  and  she 
wondered  whether  it  wouldn't  pay  to  get  a  seamstress  into  the 
house  and  avoid  the  exhausting  trips  downtown. — Ib.,  p.  22. 

These  sentences  are  of  the  conversational  type,  good  in  their 
context  but  of  course  not  suited  to  all  occasions.  The  fol- 
lowing sentence  has  one  clause  break  marked  with  comma, 
another  not  pointed: 

She  is  going  to  work  and  she  is  going  to  weep,  but  she  is 
also  going  to  dress. — Agnes  Repplier,  Americans  and  Others, 
p.  175. 

The  following  sentence,  from  the  Saturday  Evening  Post 
of  December  15,  1917,  is  of  a  type  not  unusual  in  news- 
papers : 

The  estimate  for  the  two  additional  clerks  in  Washington 
will  go  to  the  Committee  on  Appropriations  and  the  estimate  for 


72  Modern  Punctuation 

an  additional  field  agent  will  go  to  an  entirely  different  com- 
mittee. 


COMMA  WITH  GRAMMATICAL  CONNECTIVE 

If  a  conjunction  like  and  is  present,  the  comma  is  suffi- 
cient to  hold  together  clauses  of  considerable  length  and 
complexity.  This  is  true  even  of  book  punctuation.  It 
may  happen  that  a  comma  which  is  sufficient  for  clear 
grouping  in  its  own  sentence  may  not  serve  the  require- 
ments of  the  paragraph;  but  neither  length  of  clauses  nor 
the  use  of  commas  within  clauses  can  be  said  to  "  require " 
the  semicolon  for  grouping.  The  semicolon  may  or  may 
not  be  needed ;  cases  are  properly  decided  according  to  re- 
quirements of  grouping  and  weight  in  the  light  of  the  con- 
text. 

Here  is  a  solid  and  ancient  festive  tradition  still  plying  a 
roaring  trade  in  the  streets,  and  they  think  it  vulgar. — G.  K. 
Chesterton,  Heretics,  p.  100. 

We  have  heard  of  a  certain  standard  of  decorum  which  de- 
mands that  things  should  be  funny  without  being  vulgar,  but  the 
standard  of  this  decorum  demands  that  if  things  are  vulgar  they 
shall  be  vulgar  without  being  funny. — /&.,  p.  113. 

If  either  of  the  sentences  from  Mr.  Chesterton  came  at  the 
end  of  the  paragraph,  the  comma  might  give  place  to  the 
semicolon. 

In  the  following  sentences  the  comma  is  sufficient  in  spite 
of  the  presence  of  other  commas : 

By  1849  the  national  movement  had  begun  to  flow  in  its  natural 
channel,  and  it  became  clear  that  the  unity  of  Italy,  if  it  was 
to  be  accomplished  at  all,  would  be  accomplished  under  the 
House  of  Savoy. — Lacy  Collison-Morley,  Modern  Italian  Litera- 
ture, p.  267. 


Predicates  in  Series  73 

In  this  respect  the  Revolution  bears  out  the  observation  of 
Tocqueville  that,  although  political  in  its  nature,  it  proceeded  in 
the  manner  of  a  religious  revolution,  for  it  stirred  up  animosities 
which  in  their  inveterate  bitterness  rank  with  the  hateful  emo- 
tions that  have  accompanied  religious  changes, — James  Harvey 
Robinson,  The  New  History,  p.  198f. 

Sentences  of  equal  or  greater  length  with  nothing  stronger 
than  commas  at  the  main  breaks  may  be  found  in  any  news- 
paper. 

PREDICATE  SERIES  WITH  ONE  CONJUNCTION 

In  opposition  to  the  usual  book  rule  that  triads  of  nouns 
or  adjectives  shall  be  pointed  according  to  the  formula 
Tom,  Dick,  and  Harry  are  in  town,  many  newspapers  omit 
the  second  comma  and  set  the  series  as  Tom,  Dick  and 
Harry.  And  therefore — the  logic  is  not  guaranteed — some 
compositors  think  it  their  duty  to  treat  predicates  in  the 
same  way.  Three-clause  compound  sentences  with  one 
comma  are  rare,  but  three-predicate  sentences  in  the  form 
advanced  to  the  river,  reconnoitered  half  an  hour  and  then 
retired  are  not  uncommon. 

The  expression  Caesar,  Pompey  and  Crassus  is  clear  even 
if  one  does  not  like  the  pointing;  but  the  application  of 
a  rigid  no-comma  rule  to  the  last  two  members  of  a  predi- 
cate series  may  obscure  the  grouping.  The  following  sen- 
tence is  from  a  popular  weekly  magazine: 

Some  spy  out  and  report  our  military  preparations;  others 
foment  strikes,  set  class  against  class,  preach  pacifism  and  pes- 
simism and  poison  the  springs  of  thought. 

The  omission  of  the  comma  which  should  be  used  after 
pessimism  lets  it  appear  momentarily  that  poison  is  in 


74  Modern  Punctuation 

series  with  pacifism.  When  there  is  a  rigid  office  rule 
against  the  second  comma,  such  sentences  ought  not  to  be 
written.  Such  a  rule,  as  a  rule  for  all  conditions,  has 
only  one  point  of  virtue — it  discourages  the  writing  of 
triads. 

Where  the  series  consists  of  full  clauses,  not  mere  predi- 
cates with  subject  in  common,  the  comma  is  seldom  omitted. 
The  following  sentence  is  a  typical  case: 

Ludendorff  has  collected  divisions  from  every  quarter,  he  has 
brought  up  more  guns,  and  he  seems  determined  to  press  against 
the  British  left  flank  until  it  breaks  or  exhaustion  overpowers  his 
forces.— New  York  Tribune,  April  6, 1918. 

SEMICOLON  WITH  GRAMMATICAL  CONNECTIVE 

The  semicolon  is  used  with  grammatical  connectives  be- 
tween clauses  short  or  long,  simple  or  elaborate.  The  semi- 
colon may  be  necessary  to  clear  grouping  when  the  parts 
of  a  compound  sentence  are  elaborate;  may  be  necessary 
even  in  a  short  and  direct  compound  sentence  to  make 
clear  the  weight  of  the  parts  in  their  context. 

The  second  sentence  in  the  following  passage  is  short  and 
direct  enough  to  be  pointed  at  the  clause  boundary  with 
the  comma  or  nothing.  But  the  importance  of  the  idea 
they  skipped  in  the  paragraph  makes  the  semicolon  best : 

They  worked  these  into  plots  of  adventure,  mystery,  fairy 
magic ;  the  adventures  were  too  good  to  be  lost ;  so  the  less  refined 
English  readers,  who  were  puzzled  or  wearied  by  sentimental 
conversations,  were  not  able  to  do  without  the  elegant  romances. 
They  read  them;  and  they  skipped. — W.  P.  Ker,  English  Lit- 
erature: Medieval,  p.  72. 

In  this  paragraph  from  a  Saturday  Ereniny  Post  edito- 
rial (May  18,  1918)  the  semicolon  could  be  replaced  by  the 


Semicolon,  Colon,  and  Dash  75 

comma  or  period  only  if  the  adjacent  groups  were  intended 
to  hold  a  different  rank  in  the  paragraph: 

Your  affair  is  the  triumphant  proletariat — without  bosses, 
jobs,  fuel,  food,  clothes  or  lodgings,  but  gloriously  triumphant 
at  last.  You  may  run. out  of  all  the  necessities  of  life;  but  the 
resources  of  the  dictionary  are  practically  unlimited. 

This  sentence,  from  an  article  by  Mr.  C.  H.  Ward,  is  a 
clause  series  for  which  commas  would  be  too  light : 

As  a  printer  he  had  ideals;  as  a  theologian  he  was  a  keen 
progressive;  he  loved  and  helped  to  edit  Burns;  he  received  an 
honorary  degree  from  Harvard;  and  all  the  days  of  his  long  life 
he  studied  punctuation.  [The  reference  is  to  John  Wilson,  author 
of  the  Treatise  on  English  Punctuation.] 

If  these  clauses  were  set  as  sentences  their  staccato  empha- 
sis would  be  intolerable. 


OTHER  POINTS  WITH  GRAMMATICAL  CONNECTIVE 

The  use  of  the  colon  with  any  of  the  grammatical  con- 
nectives may  be  defended  on  the  ground  of  rhythmical 
effect  or  clear  designation  of  value  in  the  context ;  but  this 
use  of  the  colon  is  infrequent. 

Form  becomes  vanity,  art  is  held  a  bauble,  style  an  indulgence ; 
strenuousness  is  all :  and  that  way  disaster  lies. — William  Watson, 
Pencraft,  p.  100. 

Practice  is  the  only  absolute  proof  of  sincerity:  but  defect 
in  practice  is  no  proof  of  insincerity. — John  Bailey,  Dr.  Johnson 
and  His  Circle,  p.  50. 

The  dash,  alone  or  with  comma,  is  sometimes  used  for 
abruptness  or  surprise.  It  directs  attention  mainly  to 
what  follows. 


76  Modern  Punctuation 

A  little  patient  plodding  and  industrious  thumbing  of  the 
pages, — and  there  you  are! — F.  T.  Cooper,  The  Craftsmanship 
of  Writing,  p.  244. 

A  Frenchwoman  came  to  London  for  the  first  time — and  no 
English  person  would  ever  guess  the  phenomenon  which  van- 
quished all  others  in  her  mind  on  the  opening  day.  She  saw  a 
cat  walking  across  a  street. — Arnold  Bennett,  The  Author's 
Craft,  p.  17. 

The  dash  as  a  compounding  point  is  oftener  used  with- 
out than  with  a  grammatical  connective. 


2.    COMPOUNDING  WITH  LOGICAL  CONNECTIVE 

Link  words  used  in  compounding — repetitions  and  pro- 
nouns not  counted — are  classed  as  logical  if  not  in  the 
small  list  of  grammatical  connectives  (and,  but,  for,  or, 
nor).  Some  common  logical  connectives  are  so,  therefore, 
nevertheless,  on  the  other  hand. 

In  the  article  Coordination  and,  the  Comma,  Mr.  R.  D. 
Miller  points  out  two  peculiarities  of  the  logical  connec- 
tives. (1)  The  logical  connective  is  often  embedded  within 
a  clause,  whereas  the  grammatical  connective  regularly 
begins  the  clause.  (2)  With  a  logical  connective  in  a  two- 
clause  compound  sentence,  except  with  yet,  the  comma  is 
seldom  sufficient.  Mr.  Miller  concludes  that  "the  use  of 
the  comma  alone  before  a  logical  connective  [except  yet] 
is  the  mark  of  an  illiterate,  slovenly,  or  careless  style. " 
But  there  is  an  evident  tendency  toward  a  relaxation  of  the 
traditional  custom,  especially  in  the  case  of  so. 

With  respect  to  pointing,  yet  is  treated  like  but  or  and. 
In  the  following  sentence  it  is  used  with  the  comma: 

The  fate  of  Alsace-Lorraine  is  properly  an  international  and 
hence  world  question,  yet  after  all  what  convinced  President 


Points  with  Logical  Connective  77 

Wilson  of  Teutonic  insincerity  was  less  Germany's  dubious 
proposals  about  the  lost  provinces  than  her  open  and  flagrantly 
predatory  and  cynical  treatment  of  the  Ukraine,  Rumania,  and 
the  Soviets.— The  Dial,  June  6,  1918. 

As  a  matter  of  course,  yet  may  follow  the  semicolon  or 
any  one  of  several  other  points.  Like  but  or  and,  it  is 
frequently  employed  at  the  beginning  of  a  sentence  or 
paragraph. 

With  logical  connectives  the  typical  compounding  point 
is  the  semicolon.  The  comma  is  usually  too  light,  the  dash 
too  abrupt,  the  colon  too  formal  or  at  any  rate  contrary 
to  prevailing  American  practice.  If  the  semicolon  is  not 
suitable,  a  sentence  break  is  usually  best. 

Every  one  could  understand  and  enjoy  it;  so  it  became  the 
favourite  thing  at  popular  festivals,  as  well  as  at  the  Christmas 
entertainments  in  the  great  hall. — W.  P.  Ker,  English  Literature: 
Medieval,  p.  82. 

Forgetting,  then,  is  highly  important.  Without  it  there 
would  be  no  new  experiences  at  all.  Yet  if  it  were  complete, 
there  would  be  no  new  experiences  either,  for  it  is  through  our 
old  experiences  that  we  get  our  new  ones. — Ernest  Carroll  Moore, 
What  Is  Education?  (p.  277). 

In  the  following  sentence  the  colon  marks  the  boundary 
between  the  larger  groups,  one  of  them  containing  a  semi- 
colon : 

Nor  is  it  even  a  very  good  book :  on  the  contrary,  Mr.  Melville's 
transcription  of  the  letters  shows  signs  of  carelessness;  his  por- 
trait of  the  writer  suggests  an  attempt  at  whitewashing,  while  his 
interpretation  of  Beckford's  published  works  fails  to  give  their 
real  significance  in  literature. — Paul  Elmer  More,  The  Drift  of 
Romanticism,  p.  3. 

Many  careful  writers  would  replace  the  colon  in  this  case 
with  a  period. 


78  Modern  Punctuation 

The  effect  of  the  comma  with  the  logical  connective  so 
may  be  judged  from  the  following  specimens: 

He  found,  however,  that  the  evolution  of  society  could  not 
be  treated  satisfactorily  in  fiction,  so  he  began,  in  1880,  while 
abroad,  the  researches  in  history  which  were  to  occupy  him 
thereafter  to  the  end  of  his  life. — Meredith  Nicholson,  The  Provin- 
cial American  and  Other  Papers,  p.  50. 

There  was  now  no  reason  why  he  should  not  take  it  with  him, 
so  he  put  it  in  his  pocket. — Samuel  Butler,  Erewhon  Revisited, 
p.  61. 

Sentences  of  this  type  pointed  with  the  comma  have  been 
so  infrequent  in  respectable  writing,  save  recently,  that 
the  comma  may  seem  careless.  Sentences  with  the  con- 
nective so  are  not  frequently  useful  in  writing,  however 
much  used  in  conversation. 

3.    COMPOUNDING  WITHOUT  CONNECTIVE 

Compounding  is  often  managed  without  a  connective, 
the  most  frequent  points  in  this  case  being  comma  and  semi- 
colon. The  colon  is  sometimes  used  when  the  first  clause 
is  informally  anticipatory,  oftener  when  the  wording  is 
formal.  But  the  semicolon  is  more  frequent  even  when 
the  first  clause  awakens  expectation  of  a  complementary 
clause  to  follow. 

The  dash  is  useful  when  the  following  clause  represents 
an  unexpected  turn,  sometimes  also  to  mark  clause-opposi- 
tion. The  other  points  commonly  used  between  successive 
statements  in  appositive  relation  are  the  colon  and  the 
period.  If  a  paragraph  begins  with  the  words  He  has  only 
one  excuse,  there  may  properly  be  a  sentence  break.  Both 
the  colon  and  the  dash  are  strongly  suspensive,  the  period 
being  comparatively  light. 


Structure  Supporting  the  Comma  79 

COMMA  WITHOUT  CONNECTIVE 

The  compounding  comma  without  connective  is  mani- 
festly growing  in  favor.  With  the  decreasing  use  of 
formal  link  words,  with  a  growing  preference  for  light 
and  direct  style,  compound  sentences  that  need  no  conjunc- 
tions are  becoming  much  more  frequent.  The  semicolon  is 
still  used  in  many  sentences  of  the  kind,  and  to  all  appear- 
ances will  not  yield  its  place  however  vigorously  attacked 
by  those  who  would  make  our  laws  of  punctuation.  But 
there  are  numerous  cases,  more  numerous  in  liveV  than  in 
sluggish  writing,  in  which  the  comma  is  better. 

With  no  connective  present,  the  comma  requires  careful 
handling.  It  is  too  easy  a  point  to  bungle.  In  general, 
the  comma  is  sufficient  only  when  supported  by  series, 
correlation,  parallel  form,  climax,  a  common  modifier,  or 
the  momentum  of  the  paragraph. 

In  the  following  case  of  series  the  clauses  have  the  same 
subject  (with  change  from  man  to  he)  and  are  in  climax: 

Man  fixed  the  association  of  colours  with  grief  and  gladness, 
he  made  ornaments  the  insignia  of  office,  he  ordained  that  fabric 
should  grace  the  majesty  of  power. — Agnes  Repplier,  Americans 
and  Others,  p.  181. 

In  the  second  sentence  of  the  following  paragraph  the 
comma  is  used  between  clauses  in  balance: 

The  awful  retribution  which  is  to  fall  upon  Germany  for  the 
next  cycle  of  years  is  already  foreshadowed.  Germany's  men 
are  slaughtered  or  crippled,  her  women  are  bereft.  Upon  them 
rests  the  curse  of  grinding  toil  performed  under  the  unpitying 
scorn  of  a  whole  world  for  a  people  who  delivered  up  their 
souls  and  minds  at  the  bidding  of  rulers  who  saved  them  the 
trouble  of  thinking  for  themselves,  reading  justice,  doing  right. 
—New  York  Evening  Sun,  July  20,  1918. 


80  Modern  Punctuation 

As  a  matter  of  course,  balance  may  be  managed  with  the 
semicolon  or  in  successive  sentences.  The  balancing 
comma  is  dependent  on  circumstances  of  structure  and 
movement  of  which  the  semicolon  and  period  are  inde- 
pendent. 

For  correlation,  usually  involving  balance,  the  typical 
point  is  the  semicolon.  But  circumstances  may  suggest 
the  comma. 

I  know  that  while  ordinary  frugality  is  a  peasant  virtue  self- 
restraint  is  a  patrician  quality  of  the  highest  order.  Wasteful- 
ness is  not  only  foolish,  it  is  essentially  vulgar. — Bliss  Carman  in 
War  Thrift,  as  cited  in  the  New  York  Evening  Sun,  July  22, 
1918. 

Where  two  or  more  clauses  have  a  modifier  in  common, 
light  pointing  is  often  sufficient,  as  in  the  following  sen- 
tence from  an  editorial  in  the  Saturday  Evening  Post: 

Her  currency  sells  at  twenty  cents  on  the  dollar,  the  population 
of  her  capital  faces  starvation  day  after  day,  there  is  want 
everywhere — because  intangible  wealth  in  the  form  of  industrial 
organization  and  discipline  has  been  destroyed. 

Semicolons  would  group  the  subordinate  clause  with  the 
last  main  clause,  and  conceal  its  relation  to  the  other 
members  of  the  series. 

In  many  cases  with  the  comma  there  is  only  an  appear- 
ance of  coordination.  In  the  first  of  the  following  sen- 
tences the  first  clause  is  a  preliminary  group  not  coordi- 
nate with  the  second. 

I  repeat,  he  is  clearly  within  his  rights. 
He  leaves  this  afternoon,  he  tells  me. 


Semicolon  for  Series  or  Balance  81 

THE  SEMICOLON  WITHOUT  CONNECTIVE 

With  no  link  word  between  successive  statements  the 
comma  is  too  light  unless  supported  by  special  circum- 
stances of  structure  or  momentum.  The  period,  though 
not  obtrusive,  may  give  the  groups  more  than  their  due 
weight  in  the  passage.  Midway  between  period  and  comma 
is  the  semicolon.  It  gives  the  preceding  and  following 
clauses  a  higher  rank  in  the  paragraph  than  the  comma 
would  give  them,  a  lower  rank  than  they  would  have  if 
grouped  as  sentences.  As  formal  link  words  are  sparingly 
used  in  modern  writing,  varied  clause  pointing  is  more 
than  ever  necessary  for  distinct  but  informal  grouping. 
Ability  to  use  the  semicolon  adds  considerably  to  a  writer 's 
resources. 

Clauses  separated  by  the  semicolon  are  sometimes  in 
series,  sometimes  in  balance.  A  common  type  of  sentence 
with  the  semicolon  is  in  this  form: 

It  is  not  a  question  of  surrender  or  abdication;  it  is  a  question 
rather  of  give  and  take. — C.  Alphonso  Smith,  0.  Henry  Biog- 
raphy, p.  241. 

The  second  clause  repeats  with  addition  the  idea  of  the 
first.  The  comma  or  period  might  replace  the  semicolon 
in  this  particular  case — if  proper  weight  and  grouping 
in  the  paragraph  permitted — but  neither  would  give  so 
distinctly  the  effect  of  balance. 

The  second  sentence  of  the  following  passage  illustrates 
the  use  of  the  semicolon  for  statements  in  series.  Periods 
would  give  the  statements  exaggerated  emphasis  and  would 
affect  the  movement  disagreeably. 

By  the  year  1810  it  may  fairly  be  said  to  have  reached  matu- 
rity. Scott  had  attained  his  poetical  zenith;  Wordsworth  had 


82  Modern  Punctuation 

produced  nearly  all  his  best  work;  Coleridge's  annus  mirdbilis 
lay  already  far  in  the  past.  To  the  general  public,  indeed,  these 
writers  were  still  strange,  nay  in  some  cases  hardly  known. — 
T.  S.  Omond,  The  Romantic  Triumph,  p.  4. 


COLON  OR  DASH  WITHOUT  CONNECTIVE 

Where  the  first  clause  of  a  compound  sentence  is  a  formal 
introduction  to  the  second,  the  relation  is  ordinarily 
marked  by  the  colon.  The  use  of  the  colon  without  marked 
anticipatory  quality  is  comparatively  infrequent. 

The  following  sentences  begin  with  formally  introductory 
clauses : 

One  other  thing  Wordsworth  learned  in  those  early  years:  he 
learned  to  know  a  man  when  he  saw  him. — C.  T.  Winchester, 
Wordsworth:  How  to  Know  Him,  p.  13. 

The  war  has  produced  no  greater  paradox  than  this:  Unnatu- 
ralized  Bohemians  in  the  United  States  are  technically  enemy 
aliens,  because  they  are  subjects  of  the  Austro-Hungarian  Em- 
pire.— Saturday  Evening  Post,  June  1,  1918. 

The  capital  after  the  colon  in  the  second  example  is 
anomalous.  So  far  as  pointing  is  concerned  there  is  only 
a  clause  break,  but  the  capital  gives  its  group  an  appear- 
ance of  sentence  rank. 

The  following  sentences  illustrate  the  use  of  the  com- 
pounding colon  without  clear  anticipatory  quality: 

That  hostility  between  romanticism  and  classicism  is  funda- 
mental: we  cannot  escape  it. — Paul  Elmer  More,  The  Drift  of 
Romanticism,  p.  225. 

It  may  be  that  he  is,  like  Montaigne,  a  man  who  has  made  up 
his  mind  not  to  make  up  his  mind:  in  which  case  he  has  sub- 
scribed to  the  most  catholic  of  all  "isms" — skepticism. — Stuart 
P.  Sherman,  On  Contemporary  Literature,  p.  6. 


Suppression  of  Subject  or  Verb  83 

In  either  sentence  the  semicolon  might  replace  the  colon 
with  slight  change  of  effect.  Many  writers  use  the  com- 
pounding colon  only  after  formally  introductory  groups. 
The  compounding  dash  is  an  abrupt  or  emphatic  mark, 
properly  the  sign  of  apposition  or  shifted  construction. 

After  a  Liberty  Loan  campaign,  a  War  Savings  Stamp  cam- 
paign— how  can  it  be  otherwise?  For  the  stay-at-homes,  the 
noncombatants,  this  war  is  one  contribution  of  money  after 
another,  according  to  one's  means  and  capacity  for  earning. — 
New  York  Times,  June  18,  1918. 

Such  a  condition  of  life  fosters  not  only  thrift  and  independ- 
ence, but  those  neighborly  sympathies  which  are  impossible 
without  a  certain  isolation — it  is  hard  to  feel  neighborly  sympathy 
toward  the  party  living  in  the  next  flat. — C.  T.  Winchester, 
Wordsworth :  How  to  Know  Him,  p.  14. 

The  dash  as  a  mark  of  clause  apposition  is  less  formal  than 
the  colon. 

ELLIPTICAL  AND  SUBORDINATE  CLAUSES 

The  difference  between  a  full  clause  and  one  with  a  part 
implied  may  be  simply  a  difference  of  weight,  not  of  value. 
A  group  with  subject  or  verb  suppressed  is  often  more 
effective  than  the  heavier  full  clause.  "Except  in  the 
most  studied  and  formal  discourse/'  says  Mr.  L.  A.  Sher- 
man (Analytics  of  Literature,  p.  280),  "men  incline  always 
to  disburdened  and  contracted  phrases,  not  only  to  save 
effort,  but  the  better  to  keep  pace  with  the  thought  within. ' ' 

A  group  which  should  be  pointed  as  a  main  clause  may 
be  technically  an  appositive,  a  participial  phrase,  an  ad- 
verbial clause,  or  other  subordinate  element. 

It  sounds  like  a  cabinet  minister  who  has  lost  an  honoured  and 
beloved  wife;  not  like  an  assassin  who  has  lured  his  wife  to  a 


84  Modern  Punctuation 

lonely  spot,  and  there  pitilessly  killed  her. — Agnes  Repplier, 
Counter-Currents,  p.  16. 

There  are  some  men  who  seem  incapable  of  comprehending  the 
fact  that  it  is  the  present  meaning  of  a  word  which  determines  the 
propriety  of  its  use;  not  its  past  meaning,  still  less  its  meaning 
in  the  tongue  from  which  it  came. — Thomas  R.  Lounsbury,  The 
Standard  of  Usage  in  English,  p.  43. 

The  typical  newspaper  paragraph  contains  from  35  to  75 
words,  whereas  the  average  paragraph  in  ordinary  prose  is  from 
150  to  250  words  in  length.— W.  G.  Bleyer,  Types  of  News  Writ- 
ing, p.  11. 

In  the  first  sentence  the  group  following  the  semicolon  is 
technically  an  adverbial  phrase.  In  the  second,  the  group 
beginning  not  is  in  series.  In  the  third,  the  clause  fol- 
lowing the  comma  is  technically  subordinate.  In  all 
such  cases  grammatical  classification  yields  to  rhetorical 
purposes. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  POINTING  OF  RESTRICTIVE  AND  NON- 
RESTRICTIVE,  PRELIMINARY,  PARENTHETI- 
CAL, AND  "AFTERTHOUGHT"  MATTER 

THE  cases  falling  within  this  chapter  may  be  classified 
under  two  heads: 

1.  Limiting   and   modifying   elements:    adjectival,    ap- 
positive,  and  adverbial.     Appositives  are  strictly  adjectival 
in  function,  but  are  often  treated  separately. 

2.  Preliminary,  parenthetical,  or  "afterthought"  mat- 
ter which  cannot  be  classed  as  adjectival  or  adverbial. 

Either  division  may  contain  matter  which  is  thought  to 
have  been  transposed  from  the  position  assigned  it  by  the 
laws  of  nature.  The  two  classes  are  rhetorically  akin, 
sometimes  indistinguishable  except  by  the  application  of 
grammatical  distinctions  which  are  beside  the  point;  and 
the  same  considerations  of  clear  grouping,  just  emphasis, 
and  good  movement  are  to  be  applied  to  them  with  ref- 
erence to  punctuation.  For  this  reason  they  will  be  treated 
separately  only  so  far  as  may  be  necessary  to  clearness. 

I.   LIMITING  AND  MODIFYING  ELEMENTS 

The  groups  belonging  in  this  class  are  those  which  define 
or  qualify  any  part  of  a  sentence  functioning  as  substan- 
tive, adjective,  adverb,  or  verb.  Modifying  elements  fall 
into  two  general  classes,  or  else  lie  on  the  border-line  be- 

85 


86  Modern  Punctuation 

tween  them:  (1)  Elements  clearly  required  for  definition, 
or  necessary  to  structure ;  called  restrictive.  Usually  open. 
(2)  Elements  clearly  non-restrictive,  additional,  or  par- 
enthetical; not  required  for  purposes  of  limitation; 
capable  of  being  omitted  without  ruin  of  structure  and 
without  leaving  the  sentence  obviously  or  painfully  indef- 
inite. Usually  pointed. 

In  the  following  sentence,  from  page  45  of  G.  K.  Ches- 
terton's Crimes  of  England,  the  appositive  name  and  the 
modifiers  of  went  are  restrictive ;  the  relative  clause  is  non- 
restrictive. 

That  great  Englishman  Charles  Fox,  who  was  as  national  as 
Nelson,  went  to  his  death  with  the  firm  conviction  that  England 
had  made  Napoleon. 

As  that  great  Englishman  is  indefinite,  the  name  Charles 
Fox  is  grouped  with  it;  but  the  relative  clause,  being  un- 
necessary to  definition,  is  separately  grouped.  The  ad- 
jective complement  as  national  as  Nelson  is  necessary  to 
structure. 

If  one  writes  I  never  use  a  towel,  which  has  been  used 
by  anybody  else,  the  separate  grouping  leaves  towel  univer- 
sal. The  sent3nce  appears  to  mean  (1)  I  never  use  a 
towel,  (2)  an  unspecified  and  generic  towel  has  been  used 
by  somebody  else. 

The  distinction  between  restrictive  and  non-restrictive 
is  of  the  utmost  importance,  but  for  purposes  of  punctua- 
tion is  not  always  decisive.  The  character  of  a  group 
as  restrictive  or  otherwise  does  not  always  determine  point- 
ing even  when  clear;  and  many  modifiers,  especially  ad- 
verbs, are  difficult  to  classify. 

In  the  following  sentences  groups  which  seem  clearly  non- 
restrictive  are  properly  left  open : 


Restrictive  and  Non-Restrictive  87 

Which  has  proved  wiser,  as  we  look  back,  Johnson  who  ridi- 
culed Gray's  poetry,  or  Boswell  who  sat  up  all  night  reading 
it? — John  Bailey,  Dr.  Johnson  and  His  Circle,  p.  66. 

Quite  late  in  the  Anglo-Saxon  period — about  the  year  1000 — 
there  is  a  poem  on  an  English  subject  in  which  this  heroic 
spirit  is  most  thoroughly  displayed:  the  poem  on  the  Battle  of 
Maldoii  which  was  fought  on  the  Essex  shore  in  993  between 
Byrhtnoth  alderman  of  East  Anglia  and  a  host  of  vikings  whose 
leader  (though  he  is  not  mentioned  in  the  poem)  is  known  as 
Olaf  Tryggvason. — W.  P.  Ker,  English  Literature:  Medieval, 
p.  38. 

Our  knowledge  of  these  peoples  in  the  first  century  of  our 
era  is  drawn  from  Roman  writers,  from  Julius  Caesar  who  had 
fought  against  them,  and  from  Tacitus,  who  described  them  in 
his  Germania  (written  in  98)  and  Annals. — J.  G.  Robertson, 
Outlines  of  the  History  of  German  Literature,  p.  4. 

In  the  last  sentence  the  two  relative  clauses,  though  super- 
fically  parallel,  are  treated  in  different  ways. 

In  the  following  sentence  a  restrictive  group  is  pointed 
off: 

We  have  all  of  late  been  made  familiar  with  the  somewhat 
unfortunate  remark  of  an  English  writer,  that  the  spelling  of 
Shakespeare  was  good  enough  for  him. — Thomas  R.  Lounsbury, 
English  Spelling  and  Spelling  Reform,  p.  24. 

But  these  cases  are  out  of  the  ordinary.  As  a  rule 
modifiers  clearly  restrictive  are  grouped  with  their  prin- 
cipal elements,  and  non-restrictives  are  grouped  separately. 
When  a  modifier  is  on  the  border  line  between  classes,  the 
writer  must  decide  the  case  on  its  merits. 

The  following  sentences  contain  modifiers  which  might 
be  differently  treated: 

Managers,  being  the  most  conservative  people  on  earth,  ex- 
cept compositors,  will  honestly  try  to  convince  the  naive  drama- 


88  Modern  Punctuation 

tist  that  effects  can  only  be  obtained  in  the  precise  way  in 
which  effects  have  always  been  obtained,  and  that  this  and  that 
rule  must  not  be  broken  on  pain  of  outraging  the  public. — 
Arnold  Bennett,  The  Author's  Craft,  p.  71f. 

The  modern  drama  was  evolved  in  Germany  as  elsewhere 
from  the  church  liturgy.  In  the  tenth  century  the  Easter  and 
Christmas  services  were  invested  with  a  certain  dramatic  char- 
acter; the  events  celebrated  at  these  festivals  were  narrated  by  the 
priests  in  dialogue,  and  even  acted. — J.  G.  Robertson,  Outlines 
of  the  History  of  German  Literature,  p.  19. 

In  the  sentence  from  Mr.  Bennett,  except  compositors  might 
be  treated  as  restrictive.  In  the  second  passage  it  would 
be  possible  to  set  off  as  elsewhere  and  in  the  tenth  century. 
Classification  of  the  three  cases  into  restrictive  and  non- 
restrictive  would  be  uncertain  or  difficult.  In  such  cases 
the  decision  to  punctuate  or  not  will  have  to  be  made  on 
grounds  of  emphasis  and  movement. 

Other  things  equal,  the  open  restrictive  group  is  lighter 
and  more  rapid.  The  pointing  of  a  modifier  affects  at  once 
the  movement,  the  grouping,  the  distribution  of  emphasis. 

The  Frankish  Emperor  Lewis  the  Pious  is  said  to  have  taken 
a  disgust  at  the  heathen  poetry  which  he  had  learned  when  he 
was  young. — W.  P.  Ker,  English  Literature:  Medieval,  p.  43f. 

The  Frankish  Emperor,  Lewis  the  Pious,  is  said  to  have  taken 
a  disgust  at  the  heathen  poetry,  which  he  had  learned  when  he 
was  young.  [Three  commas  inserted.] 

The  interpolated  commas  imply — what  is  not  true — that 
Frankish  Emperor  and  heathen  poetry  have  been  made 
definite  by  the  context.  The  first  two  commas  emphasize 
Frankish  Emperor,  and  they  subordinate  Lewis  the  Pious, 
at  the  same  time  suspending  attention  upon  the  name. 
The  third  comma  leaves  heathen  poetry  unrestricted,  giving 
the  impression  that  the  Emperor  had  learned  all  the 


Indeterminate  Groups  89 

heathen  poetry  and  had  afterwards  become  disgusted  with 
it.     The  commas  also  affect  the  movement  of  the  sentence. 
Non-restrictive  commas   are  employed  economically   in 
modern  writing.     A  sentence  like  this  looks  strange: 

To  prevent,  therefore,  any  mistake,  on  the  part  of  the  pupil, 
as  to  the  meaning  of  a  parenthetical  phrase  or  clause,  and  to 
enable  him  to  insert  the  right  points  by  distinguishing  it  with 
some  degree  of  accuracy  from  the  parenthesis,  from  which  it 
derives  its  name,  we  may  have  to  anticipate  a  little  what  will  be 
laid  down  and  illustrated  in  the  next  chapter. — John  Wilson, 
Treatise  on  English  Punctuation,  twentieth  edition  (1870),  p.  64. 

Where  a  group  is  of  indeterminate  kind,  the  writer  has 
the  choice  of  using  or  omitting  marks,  according  to  the  cir- 
cumstances of  the  case.  With  groups  clearly  restrictive  or 
the  opposite  there  is  usually  no  choice ;  but  there  is  always 
the  option  of  recasting  the  sentence. 

The  chapter  in  which  the  error  was  made  has  been  revised. 
The  third  chapter,  the  one  in  which  the  error  was  made,  has 
been  revised. 

The  second  form  has  a  non-restrictive  group  with  two  sus- 
pending marks.  Which  form  is  better  depends  on  the 
requirements  of  the  individual  passage. 


' '  TRANSPOSED  ' '  MODIFIERS 

An  adjective  or  adverb  element  necessary  to  definition  or 
structure  is  ordinarily  open,  whatever  its  position.  If  so- 
called  transposed  elements  are  pointed,  the  decisive  reason 
is  not  transposition. 

A  man  bold  enough  to  try  it  may  succeed. 

A  stone  rolling  down  a  mountain  gathers  no  moss. 

Three  times  he  attempted  the  leap. 


90  Modern  Punctuation 

Bold  enough  to  try  it  is  transposed  but  restrictive,  and 
therefore  should  not  be  fenced  off  from  man.  Modifiers  of 
stone  in  the  second  sentence  and  attempted  in  the  third  are 
likewise  transposed.  In  the  following  sentence  a  trans- 
posed modifier  is  set  off  because  the  group  beginning 
rendered  necessary  is  non-restrictive : 

In  this  movement  of  troops,  rendered  necessary  by  the  great 
local  success  which  is  causing  such  enthusiasm  all  over  the  world, 
we  see  the  most  important  advantage  from  Foch's  masterly  coup. 
—New  York  Evening  Sun,  July  20,  1918. 

The  pointing  United  we  stand,  divided  we  fall  is  quite 
permissible,  in  fact  better  than  United,  we  stand;  divided, 
we  fall. 

The  normal  position  of  an  adverb  modifying  a  verb  is 
near  the  verb — before  it,  just  after  it,  or  between  the  parts 
of  the  verb  phrase,  as  in  the  expressions  never  moved,  came 
today,  has  always  seemed  right.  But  adverbial  modifiers 
are  often  placed  at  the  beginning  of  the  sentence,  and  in 
this  position  may  be  either  pointed  or  not,  according  to  re- 
quirements of  clear  grouping  and  proper  emphasis.  Some 
of  the  transposed  groups  in  the  following  passage  are 
pointed,  others  are  open : 

Without  membership,  it  professes  to  exert  great  power  at  the 
polls.  Although  little  is  known  of  its  resources,  it  is  always  well 
supplied  with  money.  In  everything  except  the  bullying  of 
public  officers  it  works  wholly  in  the  dark.  .  .  . 

...  If  any  other  private  or  personal  interest  were  guilty 
of  such  an  intrusion  the  Capitol  would  be  in  an  uproar.  There 
would  be  an  inquiry  certainly,  and  there  might  be  prosecutions. 
— Prom  an  editorial  in  the  New  York  World. 

The  points  used  to  set  off  or  enclose  groups  which  serve 
as  modifiers,  preliminary  or  parenthetical  expressions,  and 


Modifiers  without  Punctuation  91 

afterthoughts,  are  the  comma,  the  dash  or  comma  with 
dash,  curves,  the  colon,  and  the  semicolon.  A  modifying 
element  is  sometimes  treated  as*  a  sentence,  or  even  as  a 
paragraph.  The  use  of  brackets  for  parenthetical  matter 
is  usually  incidental  to  their  main  purpose,  which  is  to 
distinguish  interpolated  from  quoted  matter. 

OPEN  MODIFIERS 

The  following  sentences  have  appositives  and  modifiers 
not  pointed: 

We  shall  then  be  making  that  rare  advance  in  wisdom  which 
consists  -n  abandoning  our  illusions  the  better  to  attain  our 
ideals. — George  Santayana,  Poetry  and  Religion,  p.  250. 

An  experienced  writer  means  a  point  as  definitely  as  he  means 
a  word. — Arlo  Bates,  Preface  to  an  edition  of  Poems  of  John 
Keats,  p.  vii. 

Reinke  the  Fox  is  in  disgrace;  every  animal  has  some  accu- 
sation to  bring  against  him,  and  Brun  the  bear  is  despatched  by 
King  Lion  to  Malepertus,  to  summon  Reinke  before  the  court. 
But  Brun  is  outwitted  by  the  Fox's  cunning;  so,  too,  is  Hintze 
the  cat. — J.  G.  Robertson,  Outlines  of  the  History  of  German 
Literature,  p.  61. 

The  first  sentence  has  a  restrictive  relative  clause,  the 
second  a  restrictive  adverbial  clause  with  as.  In  the  pas- 
sage from  Mr.  Robertson  there  are  three  names  with  restric- 
tive appositives.  In  the  following  sentence  there  are 
several  adverbial  groups  without  pointing: 

By  joint  action  these  inevitable  failures  will  be  considered 
as  they  arise,  and  no  Senator  or  Representative  will  find  excuse 
for  sensation  or  demagogy  except  as  he  may  hope  to  profit  by 
it  personally  and  politically. — New  York  World  (editorial), 
March  16,  1918. 


92  Modern  Punctuation 

PUNCTUATED  MODIFIERS 

Where  a  modifier  shoul'd  be  set  off  by  a  point  or  pair  of 
points,  the  comma  is  usually  the  lightest  mark.  The  dash 
is  more  abrupt,  the  colon  more  formal.  Curves  are  mostly 
limited  to  cases  in  which  the  enclosed  modifier  is  felt  as 
parenthetical.  The  semicolon  when  used  to  mark  off  an 
appositive  or  other  modifier  gives  the  impression  that  the 
group  in  question  is  only  technically  subordinate. 

The  works  of  the  past,  even  of  the  immediate  past,  are  pre- 
sented to  us  not  in  the  spelling  of  the  past,  but  in  that  of  the 
present. — Thomas  R.  Lounsbury,  English  Spelling  and  Spelling 
Reform,  p.  23. 

The  group  even  of  the  immediate  past  is  a  non-restrictive 
modifier  thrown  in  between  the  subject  and  its  verb.  In 
the  following  sentence  the  punctuated  modifier  comes  at 
the  end  of  the  sentence  and  therefore  takes  only  one  comma : 

Footnotes  should  never  be  run  into  the  text  in  manuscripts, 
whether  in  parentheses  or  otherwise. — Manual  of  Style  of  the 
University  of  Chicago  Press,  p.  114. 

In  the  first  of  the  following  sentences  the  dash  groups 
the  succeeding  words  as  being  in  apposition  with  the  preced- 
ing series ;  in  the  second  the  two  dashes  set  off  an  emphatic 
parenthetical  appositive. 

The  so-called  "list"  books,  however,  are  the  heavy  infantry, 
the  heavy  artillery — the  main  body  of  the  publishing  army. — R.  S. 
Yard,  The  Publisher,  p.  28. 

The  haphazard,  chance  reader,  who  scans  at  random  seeking 
only  the  strikingly  interesting  or  important  news — the  average 
American  reader — is  not  willing  to  spend  the  time  to  read  through 
the  various  departments  in  search  of  news. — G.  M.  Hyde,  News- 
paper Editing,  p.  183, 


Colon,  Period,  and  Curves  93 

The  colon  is  the  typical  mark  for  the  end  of  a  formal 
introductory  group  followed  by  an  appositive,  which  may 
be  a  series.  The  nearest  equivalent  of  the  colon  for  this  use 
is  the  dash. 

The  required  books  are  as  follows:  the  Concise  Oxford  Dic- 
tionary, or  approved  equivalent;  Snyder  and  Martin's  Book  of 
English  Literature;  and  George  Philip  Krapp's  Modern  English, 
Its  Growth  and  Present  Use. 

But  an  introductory  group  is  often  treated  as  a  sentence, 
the  specifications  following  in  a  series  of  sentences.  A 
paragraph  may  begin  with  sentences  of  these  types,  all 
introductory  but  none  needing  the  colon: 

He  has  proposed  a  truly  remarkable  plan. 
Let  me  tell  you  what  to  do. 

What  do  you  suppose  he  is  planning  for  us  to  do? 
The  provisions  of  the  act  are  as  follows.     (I  cite  the  official 
text.) 

In  the  last  case  the  intervening  parenthesis  makes  the 
period  better  pointing  than  the  colon  in  spite  of  the  formal 
wording. 

Curves  are  often  useful  for  light  and  brief  parenthetical 
appositives  or  modifiers,  seldom  for  long  groups. 

The  year  of  the  Revolution  (1789)  marks  a  boundary  in  both 
literary  and  political  history. 

The  committee  named  by  the  President  consists  of  Messrs. 
Smith  (chairman),  Jones,  Knapp,  and  Bowen. 

The  curves  in  the  second  sentence  are  a  convenient  means 
of  showing  that  chairman  is  not  in  series  but  in  apposition. 
The  alternative  style,  with  semicolon  after  chairman,  would 
be  too  heavy  to  use  through  the  series. 


94  Modern  Punctuation 

In  the  following  sentence  the  semicolon  retains  its  char- 
acter as  a  coordinating  point,  the  succeeding  words  being 
rhetorically  a  main  clause : 

On  the  other  hand,  where  words  are  obviously  foreign  in  char- 
acter, we  can  note  a  tendency,  which  has  been  at  work  for  the 
last  two  or  three  centuries,  to  prefer  what  is  called  "linguistic 
harmony" ;  to  choose,  among  two  competing  forms,  the  one  which 
is  homogeneous  throughout. — L.  P.  Smith,  The  English  Language, 
p.  89f. 

RELATIVE  CLAUSES 

A  relative  clause  may  be  open  or  pointed.  If  the  pro- 
noun is  not  expressed  (as  in  the  note  I  sent  him)  the  clause 
is  regularly  open.  If  the  relative  that  is  used,  the  clause 
is  ordinarily  open,  unless  in  series  or  some  other  relation 
which  may  require  pointing.  With  which  or  who  a  rela- 
tive clause  may  be  either  pointed  or  open.  The  relative 
clause  may  be  to  all  intents  and  purposes  a  main  clause. 

"Thou  goest  with  women;  forget  not  thy  whip,"  said  Nietzsche. 
It  will  be  observed  that  he  does  not  say  "poker";  which  might 
come  more  naturally  to  the  mind  of  a  more  common  or  Christian 
wife-beater.— -G.  K.  Chesterton,  The  Appetite  of  Tyranny,  p.  42. 

But  ordinarily  the  coordinate  relative  clause  takes  a  comma 
or  pair  of  commas. 

The  memorandum  is  to  be  handed  to  Mr.  Phelps,  who  will  give 
you  further  instructions. 

In  the  two  sentences  following  there  are  relative  clauses 
with  parenthetical  pointing : 

If  a  sense  of  humour  forces  us  to  be  candid  with  ourselves, 
then  it  can  be  reconciled,  not  only  with  the  cardinal  virtues — which 


Relative  Clauses.    Appositives  95 

are  but  a  chilly  quartette — but  with  the  flaming  charities  which 
have  consumed  the  souls  of  saints. — Agnes  Repplier,  Americans 
and  Others,  p.  60. 

For  when  he  [Columbus]  heard  the  word  Caniba  (which  is 
simply  a  variant  of  Carib  or  Caribes)  he  thought  that  it  signi- 
fied that  this  savage  people  were  subjects  of  the  Grand  Khan  of 
Tartary,  whose  domains  he  believed  to  be  not  far  distant. — L.  P. 
Smith,  The  English  Language,  p.  200. 

It  often  happens  that  a  relative  clause  is  made  into  an 
emphatic  terminal  group. 

Robert  Browning  established  himself  and  his  carpet-bag  in  com- 
fortable lodgings  on  the  Acropolis — which  he  spells  with  a  K  to 
show  his  intimate  acquaintance  with  recent  research. — John  Jay 
Chapman,  "The  Greek  Genius,"  in  Atlantic  Classics,  second 
series,  p.  192. 

Now  and  then  a  relative  clause  takes  rank  as  a  sentence: 

Best  paid  of  all  the  artists  are  the  cartoonists.  Which  is  equiva- 
lent to  saying  that  not  many  artists  can  make  cartoons. — John 
L.  Given,  Making  a  Newspaper,  p.  246. 


SPECIAL  CASES  OF  APPOSITION 

An  appositive  group  may  be  an  instance,  a  set  of  partic- 
ulars, a  quotation,  or  an  alternative  name;  and  cases  of 
apposition  may  cross  the  boundaries  of  series  pointing,  the 
pointing  of  main  clauses,  even  sentence  and  paragraph 
pointing.  If  an  introductory  remark  is  made  in  the  form 
There  are  three  recommendations  which  I  ask  permission  to 
offer,  the  following  matter  may  be  called  appositive  whether 
developed  in  the  same  sentence  after  a  colon  or  in  a  series 
of  sentences. 

Where  the  appositive  is  merely  another  name  for  the  pre- 


96  Modern  Punctuation 

ceding  substantive,  clear  grouping  may  or  may  not  require 
pointing.  To  write  a  quotation  or  citation  might  suggest 
that  the  terms  mean  different  things,  in  which  case  there 
would  be  need  for  pointing  or  recasting.  But  where  the 
two  names  obviously  relate  to  the  same  thing,  pointing  is 
not  required.  When  Mrs.  Atherton  speaks  of  "the  heroic 
or  goddess  type  of  woman"  (Tlie  White  Morning,  p.  186n.), 
it  is  clear  that  only  one  type  is  meant.  To  point  with  two 
commas  the  expression  the  heroic,  or  goddess,  type  of 
woman  would  be  abominable.  In  the  following  sentence 
from  a  news  story  in  the  New  York  Sun  the  appositive 
adjectives  standard  and  clock  are  so  clearly  equivalent  that 
pointing  would  be  objectionable : 

The  only  change  made  will  be  in  the  relation  between  standard 
or  clock  time  and  sun  or  true  time. 

In  the  following  sentences,  on  the  other  hand,  pointing 
is  desirable: 

It  would  be  unfair  to  the  author  to  infer  that  this  was  nitrous 
oxid,  more  familiarly  known  as  "laughing  gas." — Edwin  E.  Slos- 
son,  Six  Major  Prophets,  p.  73. 

The  next  to  the  last  line  in  a  paragraph  ought  not  to  end 
in  a  divided  word;  and  the  last  line  (the  "breakline")  should, 
in  measures  of  15  ems  and  up,  contain  at  least  four  letters. — Rule 
of  the  University  of  Chicago  Press. 

The  last  sentence  contains  a  parenthetical  appositive. 


ADJECTIVES,  ADVERBS,  AND  VERBS  IN  APPOSITION 

Though  the  appositive  relation  is  technically  confined  to 
substantive  elements,  it  may  be  extended  to  adjectives, 
adverbs,  and  verbs. 


Appositive  Groups  97 

Matthew  Arnold,  rather  late  in  his  life  (in  the  introductory 
essay  to  Mr.  T.  H.  Ward's  English  Poets),  shows  that  he  has  been 
reading  some  old  French  authors. — W.  P.  Ker,  English  Litera- 
ture: Medieval,  p.  9. 

The  Icelandic  histories — including  the  history  of  Norway  for 
three  or  four  centuries — may  be  consulted  for  the  domestic  life 
of  the  people  who  made  so  bad  a  name  for  themselves  as  plunder- 
ers abroad. — Ib.,  p.  24. 

In  these  sentences  the  appositives  are  of  course  not  mere 
equivalents,  being  rather  limiting  or  specifying  appositives. 
The  same  thing  is  true  of  the  verbal  appositive  in  the  sen- 
tence following : 

A  dog -not  only  prefers  a  customary  and  unpleasant  smell;  he 
hates  a  good  one.  A  perfume  pricks  his  nose, — gives  a  wrench 
to  his  dog  nature,  perhaps  tends  to  "undermine  those  moral  prin- 
ciples" without  which  dog  "society  cannot  exist,"  as  the  early 
critics  used  to  say  of  Ibsen. — F.  M.  Colby,  Constrained  Attitudes, 
p.  137. 

In  these  sentences  there  are  cases  of  clauses  and  sentence 
apposition : 

That  is  the  first  significance  of  President  Wilson's  action.  The 
second  is  this:  it  indicates  that  he  may  be  beginning  to  realize 
the  potentialities  of  the  Saloniki  front  and  its  possibilities  for 
victoriously  shortening  the  war,  even  at  this  late  hour. — Demetra 
Vaka,  "Why  Are  We  at  Peace  with  Bulgaria?"  in  Collier's 
Weekly,  June  15,  1918. 

"Perfected  good-breeding,"  says  Dr.  Johnson,  "consists  in 
having  no  particular  mark  of  any  profession,  but  a  general 
elegance  of  manners."  (A  standard  that  Dr.  Johnson  himself 
did  not  entirely  attain.) — Irving  Babbitt,  Literature  and  the 
American  College,  p.  21. 


98  Modern  Punctuation 

The  first  passage  (second  sentence)  uses  the  colon  as  a  com- 
pounding and  at  the  same  time  appositive  point.  In  the 
second,  the  appositive  is  set  as  a  parenthetical  sentence. 


THE  SEMICOLON  AS  A  MARK  OF  APPOSITION 

In  general,  the  semicolon  is  not  a  mark  of  apposition. 
But  sometimes  it  is  used  before  an  elaborate  appositive 
group,  before  namely  and  certain  other  expressions,  or 
before  an  appositive  group  which  is  felt  as  an  elliptical 
main  clause. 

In  the  title  of  a  book  by  Mr.  W.  L.  Klein,  Why  We  Punc- 
tuate; or,  Reason  versus  Rule  in  tJie  Use  of  Marks,  the 
semicolon  is  the  boundary  between  the  alternative  names. 
If  the  comma  after  or  is  in  any  way  useful,  the  semicolon 
may  be  necessary.  But  this  use  of  the  comma  and  semi- 
colon will  impress  most  people  as  being  stilted.  A  better 
use  of  the  appositive  semicolon  appears  in  the  following 
sentence  from  a  Saturday  Evening  Post  editorial: 

Congress  has  passed  some  admirable  legislation;  and  then  there 
is  the  revenue  bill — a  war-profits  measure  that  taxes  everything 
except  war  profits;  a  put-the-burden-on-wealth  bill  that  in  the 
clause  taxing  professional  earnings  and  salaries  a  final  eight  per 
cent  exempts  unearned  incomes,  including  the  salaries  of  a  good 
many  congressmen. 

The  group  following  the  second  semicolon  is  practically  a 
main  clause. 

THE  CASE  OF  " NAMELY"  AND  RELATED  WORDS 

According  to  Wilson's  rule,  often  repeated  and  some- 
times followed,  "a  semicolon  is  put  before  as,  viz.,  to  wit, 
namely,  i.e.,  or  that  is,  when  they  precede  an  example  or 
a  specification  of  particulars  or  subjects  enumerated." 


Appositives  with  "Namely"  99 

To  Greece  we  are  indebted  for  the  three  principal  orders  of 
architecture;  namely,  the  Doric,  the  Ionic,  and  the  Corinthian. 

But  recent  practice  has  gone  far  toward  displacing  the 
semicolon  in  favor  of  the  colon,  the  dash,  or  the  comma. 

There  are  three  genders  in  Latin :  namely,  masculine,  feminine, 
and  neuter. — Example  given  by  W.  D.  Orcutt,  The  Writer's  Desk 
Book,  p.  10. 

As  Russia  is  a  country  now  practically  all  surrounded  by  Ger- 
mans, and  these  Germans  may  be  assumed  to  have  no  present 
idea  of  giving  safe  conduct  to  any  military  expedition  of  the 
Allies,  so-called  intervention  in  Russia  means  and  can  only  mean 
one  thing — that  is,  a  landing  at  Vladivostok. — New  York  Globe, 
June  13,  1918. 

In  Siberia  the  mental  consequence  of  the  Czarism,  namely, 
intellectual  stagnation,  has  never  existed. — New  York  Evening 
Post  (foreign  correspondence),  July  3,  1918. 

After  the  Peace  of  Campo  Formio  only  one  power  remained  at 
war  with  France,  namely  England. — Charles  Downer  Hazen, 
Modern  European  History,  p.  168. 

The  style  with  preceding  colon  and  following  comma  is 
highly  formal.  That  with  comma  both  preceding  and  fol- 
lowing is  almost  invariably  clumsy.  A  less  formal  style 
is  that  with  preceding  dash.  The  lightest  and  most  logical 
form  is  that  in  which  namely  is  grouped  with  the  expres- 
sion following,  as  in  the  sentence  from  Mr.  Hazen. 

The  style  in  which  namely  is  followed  by  the  colon  is 
recommended  by  the  University  of  Chicago  Press  "if  what 
follows  consists  of  one  or  more  grammatically  complete 
clauses. ' '  But  many  newspaper  men  prefer  to  use  the  colon 
after  namely  only  at  the  end  of  a  paragraph.  Where 
namely  takes  a  following  colon,  the  preceding  point  will  be 
comma  or  dash.  • 

Before  that  is  or  for  example  there  is  sometimes  advantage 


100  Modern  Punctuation 

in  making  a  sentence  break.  This  arrangement  and  some 
others  illustrated  in  the  following  sentences  will  obviate 
the  stiffness  of  the  namely  formula. 

The  collaboration  of  Beaumont  and  Fletcher  has  been  submitted 
to  much  close  scrutiny,  and  it  is  not  to  be  denied  that  certain 
results  have  been  obtained.  For  example,  Fletcher  practiced 
habitually  a  very  distinctive  and  original  form  of  blank  verse, 
and  one  to  a  marked  degree  in  contrast  with  that  of  Beaumont. 
— F.  E.  Schelling,  Introduction  to  a  volume  of  plays  by  Beaumont 
and  Fletcher,  p.  8. 

The  scheme  of  polity  which  he  [Calvin]  contrived,  however 
mixed  with  the  erroneous  notions  of  his  day,  enforced  at  least 
the  two  cardinal  laws  of  human  society — viz.  self-control  as  the 
foundation  of  virtue,  self-sacrifice  as  the  condition  of  the  com- 
mon weal. — Quoted  by  John  Morley,  Critical  Miscellanies,  vol. 
IV,  p.  125. 

By  origin  it  [mob]  is  not  merely  slang,  but  it  belongs  to  a 
peculiarly  odious  kind  of  slang — that  is,  the  cant  of  the  learned 
taken  up  by  the  mass  of  the  people. — Thomas  R.  Lounsbury, 
The  Standard  of  Usage  in  English,  p.  65. 

In  the  second  passage  there  is  light  pointing  even  with  the 
old-fashioned  viz.  In  the  third  passage  the  introductory 
that  is  follows  a  dash,  which  is  much  less  formal  than  the 
colon  would  be. 


ADVERBIAL  GROUPS  FOLLOWING  CONJUNCTIONS 

Where  an  adverbial  group  follows  a  conjunction  at  the 
beginning  of  a  sentence  or  clause,  there  are  three  possible 
styles.  The  adverbial  group  may  be  open,  or  pointed  at  the 
end,  or  pointed  at  both  beginning  and  end. 

Yet  in  the  midst  of  its  urbanity  and  order  forces  were  gather- 
ing for  its  destruction.— G.  H.  Mair,  English  Literature:  Modern, 
P  137f. 


Adverbial  Groups  with  Conjunctions  101 

Luther  said  of  the  people  of  Flanders  that  if  you  took  a  Flem- 
ing in  a  sack  and  carried  him  over  France  or  Italy,  he  would  man- 
age to  learn  the  tongues. — W.  P.  Ker,  English  Literature: 
Medieval,  p.  60. 

But,  after  all,  Mill  was  not  of  them,  and  he  was  not  at  home 
with  them. — John  Morley,  Critical  Miscellanies,  vol.  IV,  p.  158. 

The  open  style  is  the  lightest,  the  style  with  a  pair  of 
points  least  rapid.  All  three  are  in  good  use ;  and  any  rule 
that  might  be  framed  for  cases  of  the  kind  would  be  decep- 
tive. Though  a  theoretical  argument  might  be  drawn 
against  the  second  style,  with  punctuation  only  at  the  end 
of  the  modifier,  it  is  thoroughly  established  in  modern  prac- 
tice as  a  good  style. 

The  difference  is  of  utility  rather  than  correctness.  The 
open  style,  as  in  this  sentence  from  Henry  Bradley 's  Ma-k- 
ing of  English  (p.  731),  effects  a  rapid  grouping  of  the 
modifier  with  the  following  words: 

Literary  culture  perhaps  on  the  whole  conduces  to  tolerance  of 
certain  kinds  of  innovation  in  vocabulary,  but  with  regard  to 
grammar  its  tendency  is  strongly  conservative. 

In  the  following  sentence  the  comma  after  acquainted  is 
sufficient  for  clear  grouping  of  the  adverbial  clause : 

We  in  Ame  ica  have  had  our  Walt  Whitman,  and  if  there  is 
any  variety  of  "unabashed  sentiment"  with  which  the  fiction  of 
the  last  twenty  years  has  not  made  us  acquainted,  we  are  willing 
to  forego  further  knowledge  of  it. — Henry  Mills  Alden,  Magazine 
Writing  and  the  New  Literature,  p.  76. 

A  precisian  might  point  the  sentence  thus : 

We  in  America  have  had  our  Walt  Whitman,  and,  if  there  is 
any  variety  of  "unabashed  sentiment"  with  which  the  fiction  of 


102  Modern  Punctuation 

the  last  twenty  years  has  not  made  us  acquainted,  we  are  willing 
to  forego  further  knowledge  of  it. 

The  additional  comma  emphasizes  and,  checks  the  movement 
awkwardly,  and  gives  the  ^/-clause  the  appearance  of  being 
parenthetical.  The  original  pointing  with  one  comma 
makes  the  ^/-clause  sufficiently  distinct. 


II.    PRELIMINARY,  INTERMEDIATE,  AND  " AFTERTHOUGHT" 
MATTER 

>  distinction  somewhat  resembling  that  between  restric- 
tive and  non-restrictive  modifiers  may  be  applied  to 
preliminary,  intermediate,  and  afterthought  expressions. 
Some  are  essential  to  sentence  or  paragraph  structure, 
some  are  formally  inessential,  others  are  of  indeterminate 
kind.  Of  course  none  have  any  right  to  be  useless. 

If  a  sharp  line  had  to  be  drawn  between  these  and  modi- 
fiers, there  would  be  need  of  excluding  all  modifying  ele- 
ments (including  appositives)  which  limit  a  particular  part 
of  the  sentence.  There  would  remain  qualifying  and  con- 
nective expressions  belonging  to  the  whole  sentence  or 
clause,  vocatives  and  exclamations,  when  not  treated  as 
main  clauses  or  sentences,  and  formally  independent 
clauses  thrown  into  the  sentence.  But  absolute  phrases  and 
even  parenthetical  explanations  may  often  be  classed  as 
modifiers;  and  expressions  clearly  appositive  or  adverbial 
may  be  felt  as  parenthetical.  As  no  clear  distinction  can 
be  maintained,  modifiers  may  be  classed  with  the  other  kind 
of  expressions  so  far  as  they  have  similar  rhetorical  effects. 

The  distinction  of  preliminary,  parenthetical,  and  after- 
thought elements  is  with  reference  to  position.  A  voca- 
tive ("my  dear  sir")  or  expression  like  of  course  may 
8ta»4  in  any  of  the  three  positions. 


Parenthetical  Groups  103 

Mr.  Klein  limits  the  name  parenthesis  to  expressions 
without  grammatical  connection — established,  in  his  opin- 
ion, by  the  presence  of  a  conjunction  or  preposition.  He 
gives  the  name  "modified  parenthesis"  to  slightly  paren- 
thetical matter  with  grammatical  connection.  In  the  first 
of  the  following  sentences  he  takes  page  5  as  being  paren- 
thetical matter  requiring  curves.  In  the  second,  he  considers 
on  page  5  "slightly  parenthetical,"  grammatical  connec- 
tion being  established  by  the  preposition.  For  slightly 
parenthetical  matter  he  specifies  commas. 

The  author  says  (page  5)  that  he  did  not  go  to  London. 
The  author  says,  on  page  5,  that  he  did  not  go  to  London. 

But  the  distinction  is  arbitrary.  The  form  page  5  in 
curves  is  more  distinctly  parenthetical,  but  either  phrase 
with  either  pointing  does  the  same  grammatical  work, 
qualifying  says  by  telling  where.  A  parenthetical  clause 
like  it  is  said  will  ordinarily  take  a  pair  of  commas,  though 
lacking  *  *  grammatical  connection ' ' ;  and  a  clause  beginning 
with  a  conjunction  or  relative  may  be  felt  and  punctuated 
exactly  like  a  clause  which  would  be  rated  as  technically 
independent. 

Parenthetical  expressions,  and  similar  groups  at  the 
beginning  or  the  end  of  the  sentence,  are  elements  not  neces- 
sary to  definition  or  structure.  As  a  matter  of  course 
parenthetical  words  in  careful  writing  are  only  in  form 
unnecessary.  Parentheses,  preliminary  expressions,  and 
afterthoughts  are  only  apparently  disconnected  in  sense. 
They  have  logical  dependence  as  qualifiers  or  explanations. 
Otherwise  they  should  be  discarded. 

1.  PRELIMINARY  MATTER 

Preparatory  expressions  are  sometimes  open,  sometimes 
pointed.  If  a  preliminary  group  is  light  and  its  relation 


104  Modern  Punctuation 

clear  without  pointing,  the  effect  of  punctuation  may  be 
injurious.  A  point  at  the  end  of  a  preliminary  group  is 
a  suspension  mark  to  be  used  only  for  good  reason. 

A  given  expression  like  now  or  -first  may  pass  from  the 
open  to  the  punctuated  type  in  the  same  passage;  and 
pointed  preliminaries  may  be  punctuated  in  several  ways. 

First,  the  very  insularity  on  which  we  insisted  was  barbaric, 
in  its  refusal  of  a  seat  in  the  central  senate  of  the  nations. — G. 
K.  Chesterton,  The  Crimes  of  England,  p.  109. 

First:  Forget  as  completely  as  you  can  all  your  present 
notions  about  the  nature  of  verse  and  poetry. — Arnold  Bennett, 
Literary  Taste,  p.  74. 

But  in  the  maxim  First  catch  your  rabbit  there  would  be 
no  temptation  to  use  even  a  comma.  The  colon  in  the  sen- 
tence from  Mr.  Bennett  is  in  keeping  with  the  didactic  tone 
of  its  context. 

The  following  sentences  illustrate  some  of  the  ordinary 
types  of  preliminaries.  The  point  most  often  used  is  the 
comma;  but  there  are  cases  with  dash  (or  comma  with 
dash),  colon,  and  exclamation  point. 

Now  it  is  just  at  this  point  that  I  for  one,  and  most  men  who 
love  truth  as  well  as  tales,  begin  to  lose  interest. — G.  K.  Chester- 
ton, The  Crimes  of  England,  p.  97. 

Now,  investigation  of  the  dialect  of  the  romance  shows  that 
tho  language  is  substantially  like  that  current  in  Chaucer's  dis- 
trict and  Gower's. — W.  E.  Mead,  Introduction  to  The  Squyr  of 
Lowe  Deore,  p.  Ixviii. 

Still,  this  part  of  their  work  has  never  been  made  their  main 
object,  or  even  a  main  object. — Thomas  R.  Lounsbury,  The  Stand- 
ard of  Usage  in  English,  p.  122f. 

Of  course  newspapers  are  the  first  to  spread  far  and  wide 
the  formations  which  are  constantly  springing  up  in  a  language 
possessed  of  vitality.— Ib.,  p.  53. 


Preliminary  Expressions  105 

Of  course,  the  story  of  Charlemagne  was  not  the  same  sort  of 
thing  in  England  or  Norway  that  it  was  in  France. — W.  P.  Ker, 
English  Literature:  Medieval,  p.  70. 

My  dear  sir,  you  are  mistaken. 

My  dear  sir!  consider  what  you  are  saying! — Example  given 
by  Wendell  Phillips  Garrison,  "A  Dissolving  View  of  Punctua- 
tion," Atlantic  Monthly,  August,  1906. 

Preliminaries  are  not  often  pointed  with  the  exclamation 
mark,  even  if  exclamations.  The  second  sentence  of  the 
following  passage  from  Viscount  Morley  illustrates  the 
usual  pointing  of  the  exclamation  why. 

For  if  we  were  always  candid,  always  on  the  watch  against 
over-statement,  always  anxious  to  be  even  fairer  to  our  adver- 
sary's case  than  to  our  own,  what  would  become  of  politics? 
Why,  there  would  be  no  politics. — Critical  Miscellanies,  vol.  IV, 
p.  165. 

Expressions  like  yes  and  of  course  may  be  treated  as 
preliminaries,  as  elliptical  clauses,  even  as  sentences.  As 
such  they  may  be  pointed  in  a  variety  of  ways.  Yes  may 
take  period,  exclamation  mark,  question  mark,  comma, 
semicolon,  comma,  dash,  even  colon.  The  pointing  will  be 
according  to  the  desired  tone  and  emphasis. 

For  preliminary  vocatives  the  most  frequent  point  is  the 
comma ;  but  the  salutation  of  a  letter  may  be  pointed  with 
comma,  comma  and  dash  together,  or  colon.  The  colon, 
often  with  a  supernumerary  dash,  is  the  most  usual  mark 
save  in  friendly  letters,  and  is  preferred  by  many  writers 
in  letters  of  whatever  kind. 

Absolute  phrases  at  the  beginning  of  a  sentence  usually 
take  the  comma. 

Other  things  equal,  the  simpler  form  is  better. 

Numbers  and  letters  in  formal  lists  may  be  counted  as 


106  Modern  Punctuation 

preliminaries.  Paragraph  numbers  usually  take  the  period. 
Numbers  or  letters  designating  divisions  of  a  sentence  or 
paragraph  are  ordinarily  enclosed  in  curves. 


2.   PARENTHETICAL  MATTER 

Parenthetical  matter  in  the  strict  sense  of  the  term 
includes  vocatives,  exclamations,  transitional  expressions, 
absolute  phrases,  incidental  explanations  and  references, 
and  clauses  formally  independent — all  of  these  in  the 
"intermediate"  position,  not  at  beginning  or  end  of  the 
sentence.  But  no  clear  line  can  be  drawn  between  paren- 
theses and  modifiers.  In  the  following  sentences  there  are 
cases  of  adjectival,  appositive,  and  adverbial  parenthesis : 

The  Raleigh  (N.  C.)  News  and  Observer  is  controlled  by  Mr. 
Daniels. 

Mr.  Chesterton's  most  important  contributions  to  religious 
thought  (Orthodoxy  and  Heretics)  are  perhaps  the  best  written 
of  his  books. 

When  the  Constitution  went  into  effect  (in  1789)  the  United 
States  became  a  nation. 

A  parenthetical  expression  is  part  of  the  thought  even 
though  introduced  with  an  appearance  of  modesty  as  some- 
thing to  be  noticed  in  passing.  It  may  vary  in  importance 
from  a  page  reference  to  an  important  qualification  or  aside 
without  which  the  sentence  would  lose  its  point  and  flavor. 
It  may  be  given  unobtrusive  form  for  the  sake  of  greater 
effectiveness,  suggestion  being  sometimes  more  to  the  pur- 
pose than  direct  statement. 

As  parenthetical  points  are  suspensive,  they  need  to  be 
used  with  care  and  economy.  When  badly  placed  or  too 
frequent  they  interfere  with  movement.  In  the  first 
of  the  following  sentences,  from  an  article  in  a  popular 


Objectionable  Parentheses  107 

magazine,  the  parenthesis  is  awkwardly  placed;  in  the 
second  it  is  managed  skilfully: 

The  result  of  this  general  peaceful  penetration,  as  the  Germans 
slyly  called  it,  of  Russia  appeared  in  the  second  campaign  of  the 
war. 

A  man  does  not  need  to  be  the  Kaiser  in  order  to  perceive  that 
the  autocrat  who  conspires  to  destroy  a  brother  autocrat  engages 
in  a  risky  business,  since  he  teaches  how  any  autocracy — including 
his  own — may  be  abolished. 

The  objection  to  frequent  parentheses  in  newspaper 
writing,  as  voiced  in  the  following  words  from  Mr.  E.  L. 
Shuman's  Practical  Journalism  (p.  167),  arises  partly  from 
the  fact  that  most  newspaper  readers  prefer  a  direct  style 
permitting  easy  comprehension. 

The  purely  parenthetical  expression  .  .  .  should  be  used 
sparingly,  if  at  all,  in  journalistic  writing.  Editors  and  news- 
paper readers  have  an  aversion  to  long  parentheses. 

As  a  matter  of  course  there  are  frequent  parentheses  in 
newspaper  writing;  but  long  pointed  parenthetical  groups 
are  objectionable  save  in  moderation.  Newspaper  men  pre- 
fer a  direct  manner  of  writing.  With  a  tacit  allowance  of 
fewer  than  twenty-five  points  for  ten  sentences,  terminal 
points  included,  newspaper  editorial  writers  cannot  indulge 
very  often  in  parenthetical  punctuation. 


PARENTHETICAL  POINTS 

Parenthetical  expressions  are  often  open.  When  pointed 
they  take  commas,  dashes  (or  commas  with  dashes),  or 
curves.  The  most  frequent  parenthetical  points  are  com- 
mas, with  dashes  second  and  curves  a  distant  third.  Where 


108  Modern  Punctuation 

incidental  dates  and  references  are  frequent,  curves  may 
be  required  oftener  than  dashes,  but  seldom  in  ordinary 
matter. 

The  parenthetical  expressions  that  are  most  likely  to  be 
open  are  transitional  and  qualifying  words  like  therefore, 
nevertheless,  indeed,  and  perhaps.  These  and  other  expres- 
sions of  similar  character  may  be  pointed  or  open  according 
to  circumstances. 

It  is  perhaps  the  Spencerian  view  of  art  that  accounts  also  for 
a  curious  predilection  I  have  often  noticed  in  philologists  for 
vaudeville  performances  and  light  summer  fiction. — Irving  Bab- 
bitt, Literature  and  the  American  College,  p.  114f. 

A  good  example  of  the  confusion  arising  from  general  terms 
is  the  term  that  is  more  important  than  any  other,  perhaps,  for 
our  present  argument. — Ib.,  p.  3. 

It  is  not,  therefore,  from  the  quarter  of  license  that  any  danger 
to  our  speech  arises. — Thomas  R.  Lounsbury,  The  Standard  of 
Usage  in  English,  p.  85. 

Take,  for  illustration,  narrate.  This  verb,  as  we  have  already 
had  occasion  to  note,  was  once  denounced  as  a  Scotticism.  It 
therefore  lacked  that  perfect  purity  which  could  belong  only  to 
words  whose  birth  took  place  south  of  the  Tweed. — Ib. ,  p.  195. 

There  is  no  safe  rule  for  such  expressions  as  nevertheless, 
indeed,  then,  of  course,  moreover.  If  felt  as  integral  parts  of 
the  structure  they  are  usually  open.  If  felt  as  parentheti- 
cal, and  if  they  and  the  context  are  worth  the  emphasis 
effected  by  pointing,  they  are  ordinarily  punctuated.  But 
each  case  is  an  individual  problem.  Such  decisions  should 
be  made  by  the  writer,  not  left  to  a  compositor.  The  com- 
positor is  likely  to  be  busy  enough  with  the  type  or  the 
machine. 

The  following  sentences  illustrate  the  ordinary  methods 
of  pointing  parentheses  of  less  than  clause  rank: 


Parenthetical  Points  109 

Now  speaking  seriously,  my  dear  Professor,  it  will  not  do. — G. 
K.  Chesterton,  The  Crimes  of  England,  p.  23. 

The  Convention  affirmed  the  belief  of  the  French  nation  in  a 
Supreme  Being  and  in  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  and  accepted 
the  confession  of  the  Savoyard  Vicar  (from  the  Emile,  Bk.  IV) 
as  the  established  faith.  Skepticism  and  atheism  were  pro- 
nounced to  be  aristocratic  and  not  to  be  endured. — Paul  Monroe, 
A  Brief  Course  in  the  History  of  Education,  p.  279. 

Unhappily  their  works  are  for  the  most  part  lost,  and  it  may 
well  have  been  that  much  of  their  speculation  was — like  that  of 
Socrates — not  written  out,  but  was  confined  to  conversation  and 
oral  disputation; — James  Harvey  Robinson,  The  New  History, 
p.  109. 

My  dear  Professor  in  the  sentence  from  Mr.  Chesterton  is 
an  ordinary  vocative.  The  group  in  curves  in  the  second 
sentence  is  lighter  with  this  pointing  than  it  would  be  with 
commas.  The  third  sentence  is  a  typical  case  with  paren- 
thetical dashes. 

Parenthetical  interpolations  are  customarily  enclosed  in 
brackets. 

"Napoleon  said  that  without  him  [Rousseau]  the  French 
Revolution  would  not  have  occurred." 

In  the  following  sentences  brackets  enclose  question  and 
exclamation  marks  inserted  by  way  of  commentary : 

"The  comma  is  required  [?]  to  indicate  an  ellipsis." 
"The  comma  is  required  [ !]  to  separate  a  quotation  or  similar 
brief  expression  from  the  preceding  part  of  the  sentence." 

A  question  or  exclamation  mark  used  parenthetically  in 
original  matter  is  enclosed  in  curves.  But  this  type  of 
parenthesis  is  not  often  useful.  In  the  following  specimen 
the  parenthetical  question  mark  is  a  piece  of  clumsy  irony : 

His  patriotic  (?)  offer  has  been  declined. 


110  Modern  Punctuation 

The  following  sentence  illustrates  a  somewhat  excep- 
tional case — a  parenthetical  modifier  before  its  noun  as  if 
a  restrictive  group : 

And,  in  addition  to  these  (perhaps  selfish)  considerations,  we 
might  do  them  the  justice  to  remember  that  they  are  not  destitute 
of  natural  affection  for  their  wives  and  children;  but  that,  on 
the  contrary,  the  safeguarding  of  the  family  is,  and  has  always 
been,  a  powerful  factor  in  war. — Agnes  Repplier,  Counter-Cur- 
rents, p.  119. 

For  long  parentheses,  especially  for  those  containing 
commas,  the  points  most  often  used  are  dashes.  But  curves 
may  happen  to  be  better.  Dashes  are  emphatic,  sometimes 
too  emphatic.  In  the  following  sentence  curves  are  used 
to  carry  the  reader  rapidly  over  the  long  parenthesis : 

It  was  this  candid,  patient,  and  self-controlled  temper  that 
provoked  the  truly  remarkable  result — a  man  immersed  in  unspar- 
ing controversy  for  most  of  his  life  (controversy,  too,  on  all  the 
subjects  where  difference  of  opinion  is  aptest  to  kindle  anger, 
contempt,  and  even  the  horrid  and  irrelevant  imputation  of 
personal  sin),  and  yet  somehow  held  in  general  honour  as  a  sort 
of  oracle,  instead  of  having  presented  to  him  the  fatal  cup  of 
hemlock  that  has  so  often  been  the  reformer's  portion. — John 
Morley,  Critical  Miscellanies,  vol.  IV,  p.  167. 

It  is  impossible  to  specify,  unless  arbitrarily,  what  paren- 
thetical points  shall  be  used  in  every  class  of  circumstances. 
As  in  most  other  questions  of  structural  pointing,  the 
writer  has  to  make  his  decisions  on  the  spot.  Blanket  rules 
are  misleading. 


Intermediate  Clause  Groups  111 

PARENTHETICAL  CLAUSES 

There  are  parenthetical  clauses  both  dependent  and 
independent  in  form.  A  conjunction  or  relative  pronoun 
may  give  an  appearance  of  structural  cohesion  without 
making  a  parenthetical  clause  less  parenthetical  in  effect. 
Parenthetical  clauses  are  sometimes  open;  more  often  they 
are  pointed  with  commas,  dashes,  or  curves.  Commas  are 
the  lightest  points,  dashes  the  most  abrupt,  curves  the  most 
likely  to  seem  formal  or  self-conscious.  Though  very  use- 
ful for  light  parenthetical  explanations,  curves  are  seldom 
useful  for  groups  of  clause  rank. 

In  this  sentence  the  parenthesis  as  it  was  takes  no 
pointing : 

The  social  consciousness  was  not  favorable  to  it  [the  idea  of 
progress],  being  dominated  as  it  was  by  the  religious  belief 
in  the  degeneracy  of  a  world  fallen  from  grace,  and  fated  to 
worse  deterioration  before  its  sudden  end,  which  might  come  at 
any  time. — L.  P.  Smith,  The  English  Language,  p.  225. 

The  following  sentences  include  typical  cases  of  paren- 
thetical clauses  with  commas  and  dashes : 

His  true  ambition,  and  a  lofty  one  it  must  be  counted,  was  to 
affect  the  course  of  events  in  his  time  by  affecting  the  course  of 
thought. — John  Morley,  Critical  Miscellanies,  vol.  IV,  p.  159. 

We  say  that  these  veneered  vandals  have  the  perfectly  serious 
aim  of  destroying  certain  ideas  which,  as  they  think,  the  world 
has  outgrown;  without  which,  as  we  think,  the  world  will  die. — 
G.  K.  Chesterton,  The  Appetite  of  Tyranny,  p.  22. 

The  earliest  instance  I  have  chanced  to  meet  of  it — though  it 
was  doubtless  used  a  good  deal  earlier — is  in  the  correspondence 
of  Southey  and  William  Taylor  of  Norwich. — Thomas  R.  Louns- 
bury,  English  Spelling  and  Spelling  Reform,  p.  130f. 


112  Modern  Punctuation 

He  somewhere  speaks — I  have  mislaid  the  reference — of  a 
publisher  who  was  in  the  habit  of  speaking  about  literatoor. — Ib.f 
p.  131. 

Some  of  them  are  very  possibly  indifferent;  but  so  far  as  they 
have  spoken — and  many  have  spoken — they  have  pronounced  in  its 
favor.— Ib.,  p.  88. 

The  following  sentences  contain  parenthetical  clauses 
pointed  with  curves.  These  are  less  frequently  useful  than 
commas  or  dashes  for  clause  groups,  but  sometimes  are 
better. 

If  Socrates  were  here  to-day,  we  can  picture  to  ourselves  how 
he  would  go  round  "cross-examining"  those  of  us  (there  are  some 
college  presidents  in  the  number)  who  repeat  so  glibly  the  current 
platitudes  about  liberty  and  progress,  democracy,  service,  and 
the  like;  and  he  would  no  doubt  get  himself  set  down  as  a  public 
nuisance  for  his  pains,  as  he  was  by  his  fellow  Athenians. — 
Irving  Babbitt,  Literature  and  the  American  College,  p.  3. 

One  of  the  most  important  items  that  deceive  manufacturers 
(and  we  must  include  newspaper  publishers  in  this  class)  is 
their  failure  properly  to  charge  off  enough  for  "depreciation" 
and  "replacement"  every  year. — Jason  Rogers,  Newspaper  Build- 
ing, p.  100. 

Frequent  use  of  curves  for  parenthetical  clauses  will 
usually  seem  eccentric;  but  curves  are  sometimes  the  most 
convenient  means  of  grouping. 

Neither  curves  nor  the  other  points  are  restricted  to  any 
particular  type  of  parenthetical  clause.  Subordinate 
clauses  or  independent  parenthetical  clauses  with  or  with- 
out conjunction  may  be  set  off  by  commas,  dashes,  or  curves. 
The  more  nearly  a  part  of  the  main  structure,  the  more 
likely  is  a  parenthesis  to  be  set  off  with  commas ;  the  more 
distinctly  apart  from  the  main  structure,  the  more  likely 


Economy  of  Parentheses  113 

to  be  set  off  with  curves.    But  a  general  rule  would  be  a 
delusion. 

In  many  cases  of  parenthesis  the  safe  decision  will  be  to 
get  rid  of  the  parenthesis.  As  a  pointed  parenthetical 
expression  takes  two  points,  a  sentence  with  two  paren- 
thetical points  and  a  full  stop  carries  more  punctuation 
marks  than  the  average  good  modern  sentence.  With 
clause  breaks,  series,  preliminaries,  and  afterthoughts  to 
punctuate,  allowances  for  parenthetical  pointing  must  be 
moderate. 


PRIMARY  AND  SECONDARY  PARENTHESIS 

Parenthetical  matter  within  parenthetical  is  likely  to  be 
awkward,  but  not  necessarily. 

If  the  primary  points  are  curves,  the  secondary  paren- 
thesis may  be  pointed  with  brackets,  but  more  often  it  is 
pointed  with  commas  or  dashes.  If  the  primary  points 
are  dashes,  the  secondary  points  may  be  curves  or  commas. 
The  secondary  parenthetical  group,  especially  if  a  phrase 
like  perhaps  or  no  doubt,  is  sometimes  open. 

The  various  expressions  criticised  by  Swift  and  Beattie  and 
Landor  constitute  but  a  pitiful  handful  of  the  number  that  have 
from  time  to  time  been  denounced — often,  too,  by  men  of  ability 
— as  barbarisms  and  corruptions. — Thomas  R.  Lounsbury,  The 
Standard  of  Usage  in  English,  p.  56. 

The  two  central  motives  of  the  piece — love  between  two  per- 
sons of  unequal  (or  supposedly  unequal)  rank,  and  the  fidelity 
of  a  woman  to  her  absent  lover  through  long  years — supplied 
themes  of  which  the  romancers  and  their  public  seemed  never  to 
tire. — W.  E.  Mead,  Introduction  to  The  Squyr  of  Lowe  Degre, 
p.  xxv. 

He  sees  the  world  about  him,  the  world  at  least  that  has  out- 
grown the  ancestral  belief  in  the  gods  and  has  not  sunk  into 


114  Modern  Punctuation 

frivolity  or  sullen  skepticism,  divided  between  the  two  sects  of 
the  Epicureans  and  the  Stoics.  .  .  . — Paul  Elmer  More,  The 
Drift  of  Romanticism,  p.  92. 

In  the  sentence  from  Mr.  More  the  parenthetical  phrase 
at  least  is  open,  being  therefore  a  sort  of  restrictive  paren- 
thesis. 

In  this  sentence  from  an  editorial  in  the  Outlook  (April 
10,  1918)  the  secondary  parenthesis,  within  a  group  in 
curves,  is  pointed  with  dashes: 

Ferdinand  Foch  (the  name  is,  we  understand,  pronounced  with 
the  soft  ch — Fosh — as  a  French  word,  rather  than  with  the  gut- 
tural ch  as  in  German)  was  born  in  the  south  of  France,  and  is 
said  to  be  of  mingled  Basque  and  Alsatian  blood  and  to  derive 
his  name  from  the  latter  source — many  of  the  Alsatians  who  have 
been  ardent  French  patriots  for  generations  have  names  which 
are  German  in  form. 

There  is  also  a  secondary  parenthesis,  we  understand, 
pointed  with  commas.  The  third  dash  is  an  informal  com- 
pounding point. 


3.    ' '  AFTERTHOUGHTS  ' ' 

The  term  afterthought  is  a  makeshift.  It  does  not  mean 
a  thing  forgotten  until  the  last  second,  but  an  expression 
of  parenthetical  character  placed  at  the  end  of  the  sentence. 

A  punctuated  group  at  the  end  of  the  sentence  is  usually 
emphatic  by  both  suspension  and  position.  But  there  is  an 
important  exception,  the  it  is  said  or  other  tag  at  the  end 
of  many  newspaper  sentences. 

The  French  submarine  Diane,  not  having  been  heard  from  for 
a  long  time,  is  considered  as  lost,  it  was  officially  announced  today. 


"Afterthought"  Groups  115 

The  vital  part  of  the  sentence  is  put  where  it  may  be  seen 
at  first  glance. 

Modifiers  and  other  expressions  at  the  end  of  a  sentence 
may  be  pointed  or  open  according  to  circumstances,  pointed 
groups  being  as  a  rule  more  distinct  than  open  groups.  If 
a  dash  precedes,  the  afterthought  is  emphasized;  if  a 
comma  precedes,  as  in  the  first  two  sentences  below,  the 
greater  weight  of  emphasis  is  likely  to  be  on  the  group 
preceding  the  afterthought.  In  either  case  the  punctuation 
makes  the  afterthought  more  distinct. 

A  man  who  takes  great  pains  with  his  style  is  likely  in  the 
long  run  to  have  a  devoted  following,  and  to  get  a  hearing,  even 
for  his  indiscretions  and  ineptitudes. — Stuart  P.  Sherman,  On 
Contemporary  Literature,  p.  158. 

I  have  been  accused  of  being  a  besotted  "Victorian" — a  kind 
of  creature  which  ought  to  be  extinct,  very  obnoxious  to  the 
younger  critics,  yet  still  so  numerous  as  to  constitute  a  not 
negligible  element  in  the  procession  of  our  days. — Ib.,  Preface. 

It  is  not  the  fact,  my  dear  sir. 

Thrice  has  he  ended  a  sentence  with  the  careless  words  "and  so 
on,"  and  on  one  page  he  has  referred  coarsely  to  "the  business  in 
hand"  and  on  another  he  has  said  he  "pitched  upon  a  word," — 
as  if  a  gentleman  would  ever  pitch  on  anything;  it  is  the  act 
of  a  drunkard  or  a  ship.— F.  M.  Colby,  Constrained  Attitudes, 
p.  142. 

In  the  third  sentence,  the  terminal  expression  is  an  ordi- 
nary vocative.  In  the  sentence  from  Mr.  Colby  the  long 
group  set  off  with  colon  and  dash  is  technically  a  subordi- 
nate clause  with  a  main-clause  tag.  Like  most  afterthoughts 
set  off  by  the  dash,  it  is  emphatic. 

An  appositive  group  following  a  colon  is  not  likely  to  be 
felt  as  an  afterthought,  but  rather  as  an  essential  part  of 
the  structure. 


116  Modern  Punctuation 

The  use  of  curves  to  enclose  matter  at  the  end  of  a  sen- 
tence is  anomalous.  There  is  a  contradiction  between 
the  emphatic  position  and  the  obviously  parenthetical 
pointing. 

Ko-Ko  is  at  various  times  the  statesman,  the  poet,  the  lover, 
the  man  of  the  world  (as  when  he  is  tripped  up  by  the  Mikado's 
umbrella-carrier). — Simeon  Strunsky,  Post-Impressions,  p.  207. 

This  pointing  should  be  used  with  caution. 


CHAPTER  VI 

SERIES,  SPECIAL  GROUPING,  AND 
" ELLIPSIS"  POINTING 

THIS  chapter  is  concerned  with  the  pointing  of  coordi- 
nate elements  in  series,  except  main  clauses;  with  special 
cases  of  interruption  or  suspension,  as  in  shifts  of  struc- 
ture and  so-called  rhetorical  pauses;  and  with  what  is 
supposed  to  be  the  indication  of  ellipsis.  The  traditional 
rule  for  acknowledgment  of  ellipsis  with  the  comma  involves 
a  large  assumption. 

I.   THE  POINTING  OP  SERIES 

A  series  exists  when  successive  expressions  are  gram- 
matically coordinate.  Even  conjunctions,  prepositions, 
and  interjections  may  be  in  series;  but  for  the  present 
purpose  the  important  sentence  elements  are  groups  func- 
tioning as  nouns,  adjectives,  adverbs,  or  verbs.  Main 
clauses  in  series  belong  to  the  section  on  Main  Clauses  in 
Chapter  IV. 

The  whole  or  a  part  of  a  series  may  constitute  an  ap- 
positive  or  parenthesis,  in  which  case  series  pointing  will 
blend  into  the  pointing  of  subordinate  or  parenthetical 
matter. 

It  is  only  when  one  realizes  that  Erewhon  is  more  than  an 
England  in  satiric  guize,  is  in  fact  an  Arcadia,  that  one  fully 

117 


118  Modern  Punctuation 

appreciates    Samuel    Butler's    spirit. — Francis    B.    Hackett,   In- 
troduction to  an  edition  of  Samuel  Butler's  Erewhon. 

While  lashing  himself  into  a  lunacy  against  the  French 
Revolution,  which  only  very  incidentally  destroyed  the  property 
of  the  rich,  he  never  criticised  (to  do  him  justice,  perhaps  never 
saw)  the  English  Revolution,  which  began  with  the  sack  of  con- 
vents, and  ended  with  the  fencing  in  of  enclosures;  a  revolution 
which  sweepingly  and  systematically  destroyed  the  property  of 
the  poor. — G.  K.  Chesterton,  The  Crimes  of  England,  p.  86. 

The  group  is  in  fact  an  Arcadia  in  the  sentence  from 
Mr.  HacketJ  is  a  parenthetical  appositive  in  series  with 
is  more  than  an  England  in  satiric  guize.  In  the  sentence 
from  Mr.  Chesterton  the  latter  part  of  the  group  in  curves 
is  in  series  with  never  criticised.  In  the  following  sen- 
tence the  series  between  dashes  is  in  apposition: 

For  all  these  reasons — because  he  has  given  a  too  truthful 
and  unpleasant  picture  of  himself,  because  he  is  full  of  the  most 
amazing  paradoxes,  and  because  it  is  quite  impossible  to  say 
that  all  his  messages  are  truly  inspired — Rousseau  is  one  of  the 
most  tantalizing  forces  in  all  literature. — P.  M.  Buck,  Jr., 
Social  Forces  in  Modern  Literature,  p.  59. 

Series  may  take  the  form  of  emphatic  repetition,  which 
may  be  climactic. 

It  is  a  fearful  thing  to  lead  this  great,  peaceful  people  into 
war,  into  the  most  terrible  and  disastrous  of  all  wars,  civilization 
itself  seeming  to  be  in  the  balance. — President  Wilson,  Mes- 
sage to  the  Congress,  April  2,  1917. 

Force,  force  to  the  utmost;  force  without  stint  or  limit;  the 
righteous,  triumphant  force  which  shall  make  right  the  law  of 
the  world  and  cast  every  selfish  dominion  down  in  the  dust. — 
President  Wilson,  Baltimore  Speech,  as  cited  in  the  North  Amer- 
ican Review,  May,  1918.  [Differently  pointed  in  other  periodi- 
cals.] 


Punctuation  of  Series  119 

FALSE  APPEARANCE  OF  SERIES 

Distinctive  pointing  is  sometimes  required  in  order  to 
prevent  a  group  from  appearing  to  be  in  series  with  adja- 
cent groups.  In  the  sentence  "The  committee  consists  of 
Dr.  Smith,  President  Lowell  (Harvard),  and  Major 
Briggs,"  the  curves  make  it  clear  that  Harvard  is  not  co- 
ordinate with  the  other  names.  The  pointing  of  the  expres- 
sion "Putnam,  Little,  Brown  &  Co."  conceals  the  fact  that 
the  groups  are  (1)  Putnam,  (2)  Little,  Brown  &  Co. 

A  hotel  once  advertised  its  golf  course  in  this  manner: 
"The  120-acre,  18-hole,  golf  course  is  the  finest  in  Amer- 
ica." A  theoretical  case  could  be  made  for  the  second 
comma,  but  practically  this  pointing  is  awkward  because 
it  makes  golf  course  appear  to  be  in  series  with  120-acre 
and  18-hole. 


THE  SERIES  POINTS 

The  points  most  often  used  between  elements  in  series, 
or  at  either  boundary  of  a  series,  are  the  comma  and  the 
semicolon.  Less  frequent  series  points  are  the  dash,  some- 
times with  comma ;  the  hyphen,  for  rapid  series  amounting 
to  word-coinage;  very  seldom  the  colon,  interrogation,  or 
exclamation  mark.  Sometimes  elements  are  not  pointed 
at  all,  especially  when  all  conjunctions  are  present.  But 
points  may  be  used  for  distinctness  even  with  a  full  quota 
of  conjunctions. 


SERIES  WITH  AND  WITHOUT  POINTING 

From  series  it  is  necessary  to  distinguish  successive 
expressions  not  logically  coordinate.  No  comma  is  needed 
in  6  feet  3  inches  in  height  or  in  3  years  4  months  old. 


120  Modern  Punctuation 

Commas  would  suggest  series,  which  exists  rather  in  such 
expressions  as  wood  in  lengths  of  2  feet,  3  feet,  and  4  feet. 
Nor  is  there  true  series  in  the  expressions  old  brick  house 
or  great  naval  offensive.  In  these  cases  the  adjectives  are 
not  coordinate  as  commas  between  them  would  suggest; 
the  latter  adjective  in  each  case  is  phrased  with  the  noun. 
Old  modifies  brick  house,  and  great  modifies  naval  offen- 
sive. 

Sometimes  there  is  true  series  with  neither  pointing  nor 
conjunctions.  Mr.  Arnold  Bennett's  phrase  the  dashing 
cruel  wave  that  rhymed  with  save  would  not  be  helped  by 
pointing.  In  so  rapid  a  group,  pointing  would  be  emphatic 
and  unnecessary. 

The  presence  of  conjunctions  may  obviate  series  point- 
ing. 

It  [a  declaration  of  war]  will  involve  the  organization  and 
mobilization  of  all  the  material  resources  of  the  country  to  sup- 
ply the  materials  of  war  and  serve  the  incidental  needs  of  the 
nation  in  the  most  abundant  and  yet  the  most  economical  and 
efficient  way  possible. — President  Wilson,  Message  to  the  Con- 
gress, April  2,  1917. 

But  there  may  be  punctuation  for  distinctness  even  in  a 
series  with  all  connectives  present. 

The  Kaiser  is  perhaps  the  last  of  that  long  series  of  crowned 
and  cloaked  and  semi-divine  personages  which  has  included 
Caesar  and  Alexander  and  Napoleon  the  First — and  Third. — 
H.  G.  Wells,  Italy,  France  and  Britain  at  War,  p.  25. 

The  following  sentence  from  Mr.  G.  K.  Chesterton's 
Crimes  of  England  (p.  40)  has  series  without  pointing 
(soft-hearted  and  not  unfrequently  soft-headed),  predicate 
series  with  conjunction  and  comma,  and  series  apposition 
with  semicolon. 


"Rhetorical  Repetition"  121 

Thus  in  England  Puritanism  began  as  the  hardest  of  creeds, 
but  has  ended  as  the  softest;  soft-hearted  and  not  unfrequently 
soft-headed. 


According  to  Dean  Alford's  opinion  (The  Queen's  Eng- 
lish, section  193)  the  unpunctuated  form  deep  deep  sea  is 
right  and  the  form  deep,  deep  sea  absurd.  But  as  a  rule 
repetitions  for  emphasis  are  made  distinct  by  punctuation. 
The  points  most  often  used  within  the  sentence  for  cases  of 
repetition  are  the  comma  and  the  dash.  Other  points 
properly  used  at  times  for  repetition  within  sentence  or 
paragraph  are  period,  question  and  exclamation  marks, 
colon,  semicolon. 

The  following  sentences  illustrate  the  use  of  the  dash: 

So  soon,  however,  as  he  began  to  concern  himself  with  a  wide 
range  of  human  interests,  with  the  relatively  permanent  rather 
than  with  the  episodic  and  transient,  he.  perceived  that  general 
changes  are  necessarily  slow — very  slow. — James  Harvey  Robin- 
son, The  New  History,  p.  155. 

Humor,  it  is  agreed,  consists  in  contrasts  and  incongruities, 
and  the  essence  of  Mark  Twain's  most  characteristic  humor  con- 
sists in  contrasting  this  typical  nimbused  American,  compacted 
of  golden  mediocrities,  against  the  world — consists  in  showing 
the  incongruity  of  the  rest  of  the  world  with  this  nimbused 
American. — Stuart  P.  Sherman,  On  Contemporary  Literature, 
p.  33. 

In  the  second  sentence  the  dash,  may  be  called  a  mark  of 
both  series  and  apposition. 

For  "rhetorical  repetition "  some  books  specify  the  dash 
as  if  it  were  required.  The  comma  is  in  fact  more  frequent, 
but  less  noticeable  because  lighter. 

The  semicolon  is  often  useful  when  the  members  of  a 
series  are  long,  and  especially  when  they  contain  commas. 


122  Modern  Punctuation 

If  any  member  of  such  a  series  appears  too  unimportant 
for  this  pointing,  there  may  be  need  to  lighten  the  punctua- 
tion of  the  whole  series,  with  change  of  wording  if  neces- 
sary. To  write  ' '  a  committee  including  Presidents  Butler, 
of  Columbia;  Lowell,  of  Harvard;  and  Hadley,  of  Yale" 
is  likely  to  seem  clumsy.  It  would  be  better  to  follow 
the  usual  newspaper  style,  "a  committee  including  Pres- 
idents Butler  of  Columbia,  Lowell  of  Harvard,  and  Hadley 
of  Yale."  And  the  light  style  "yeas  9,  nays  5"  is  quite 
as  clear  as  the  stiffer  style  "yeas,  9;  nays,  5." 

But  the  semicolon  is  not  necessarily  heavy.  With 
wording  like  this  it  is  an  unobtrusive  aid  to  rapidity  and 
clearness : 

We  are  glad,  now  that  we  see  the  facts  with  no  veil  of  false 
pretense  about  them,  to  fight  thus  for  the  ultimate  peace  of  the 
world  and  for  the  liberation  of  its  peoples,  the  German  people 
included;  for  the  rights  of  nations  great  and  small  and  the 
privilege  of  men  everywhere  to  choose  their  way  of  life  and  of 
obedience. — President  Wilson,  Message  to  the  Congress,  April 
2,  1917. 

The  colon  in  series  is  anomalous  and  very  infrequent. 
The  question  mark  and  the  exclamation  point  as  series 
marks  are  not  open  to  the  same  theoretical  objection;  but 
practically  they  are  seldom  used  except  at  the  end  of  a 
sentence  or  quotation.  Sometimes  the  members  of  a  series 
are  emphatically  set  as  elliptical  sentences,  as  in  this  pas- 
sage from  a  newspaper  editorial: 

Not  one  new  bushel  of  wheat  could  thereby  have  been  produced. 
Not  one  ton  of  steel.  Not  a  pound  of  cotton. 

But  more  often  series  in  the  paragraph  takes  the  form  of 
parallel  structure  in  full  sentences. 


The  X,  Y,  and  Z  Series  123 

SERIES   WITH   ONE   CONJUNCTION 

Regarding  the  series  of  three  or  more  distinct  coordinate 
members  with  conjunction  between  only  the  last  two,  as  in 
Rheims,  Cambrai,  and  Ypres,  there  is  no  uniformity  of 
practice.  Nearly  all  textbooks  on  rhetoric  or  punctuation 
specify  the  use  of  the  comma  before  the  conjunction ;  and 
this  style  is  customarily  followed  in  many  periodicals  and 
books,  especially  by  writers  who  are  careful  of  their  point- 
ing. The  style  with  comma  is  also  used  by  some  news- 
papers, notably  the  New  York  Times  and  New  York  Even- 
ing Post. 

On  the  other  hand,  most  newspapers  and  some  other 
periodicals  print  such  a  series  with  no  comma  before  the 
conjunction.  In  many  offices  the  comma  is  seldom  allowed 
to  stand  before  the  last  member  of  a  series,  even  a  series 
made  of  long  groups,  unless  the  members  are  full  clauses. 
So  inflexible  a  rule  is  a  nuisance :  but  practically  it  is 
sometimes  treated  as  one  of  the  laws  of  nature — if  the 
meaning  stands  in  the  way  of  the  rule,  so  much  the  worse 
for  the  meaning. 

Fortunately  most  book  publishers  of  importance  either 
prefer  the  comma  style  or  use  it  according  to  copy. 

In  cases  like  these  the  use  of  a  comma  before  the  con- 
junction is  a  matter  not  of  taste  but  of  clearness : 

In  England,  no  sooner  had  the  war  broken  out  than  the 
political  leaders — Liberal,  Conservative,  Unionist,  Home  Rule, 
and  Ulster — threw  party  politics  to  the  winds. — The  Outlook, 
April  10,  1918. 

By  the  same  token  will  she  insist  on  four  nights  a  week  out, 
cold  supper  every  Sunday,  and  all  the  beds — including  her  own — 
to  be  made  by  the  family  lest  she  pronounce  the  work  too  much 
for  one  and  demand  a  helper,  plus  tax,  under  pain  of  black- 


124  Modern  Punctuation 

listing   ours   as   a   "two-girl-job"    at    all    agencies. — New    York 
Nation,  July  20,  1918. 

In  names  like  Dodd,  Mead  &  Co.  the  comma  is  ordinarily 
not  used  between  the  last  two  members.  This  style  is 
justified  by  long  custom. 

The  rigid  no-comma  rule  is  tyrannical ;  the  rigid  comma 
rule  is  not  regularly  followed  even  by  careful  authors.  In 
some  cases  triads  are  stilted  if  a  comma  is  used  with  the 
conjunction,  in  other  cases  awkward  if  the  comma  is  omit- 
ted. Either  style  leaves  opportunity  for  the  exercise  of 
judgment.  Where  the  no-comma  style  is  enforced,  one 
cannot  safely  attempt  more  than  the  simplest  type  of  series 
with  one  conjunction.  With  liberty  to  use  the  comma,  a 
writer  can  use  a  convenient  type  of  structure  which  other- 
wise would  be  unsafe. 

PUNCTUATION  FOR  COMMON  DEPENDENCE 

"  Common  dependence "  might  be  used  of  all  sentence 
elements  except  main  clauses  in  series — of  adjectives  or 
adverbs  modifying  the  same  element,  of  substantives  be- 
longing to  one  verb,  of  prepositions  governing  the  same 
noun.  But  the  common-dependence  problem  in  punctua- 
tion is  practically  limited  to  two  cases:  modifiers  of  one 
verb  or  substantive  (appositives  being  counted  as  modi- 
fiers), and  subjects  or  objects  of  one  verb. 

In  general,  a  modifying  series  is  not  set  off  from  its 
principal  element  unless  a  point  is  required  for  clearness 
or  emphasis.  To  write  a  high-spirited,  generous,  just, 
nation  is  absurd,  because  the  last  comma  gives  a  false  sug- 
gestion of  series  relation  between  just  and  nation.  In  the 
following  sentence  from  a  newspaper  editorial  the  comma 
after  adroitly  is  awkward  and  quite  unnecessary  to  clear- 
ness: 


Comma  at  End  of  Series  125 

When  he  had  committed  himself  to  the  struggle  the  Prime 
Minister  cleverly,  adroitly,  accepted  the  issue  and  forced  his  old 
opponent  into  the  position  of  attacking  the  government  at  a 
critical  moment  in  the  history  of  the  Empire  on  trivial  cnarges 
made  by  a  disgruntled  and  partially  discredited  general. 

The  comma  might  advantageously  be  transferred  to  either 
one  of  two  other  places  in  the  sentence. 

In  this  sentence  the  comma  at  the  end  of  the  series  can- 
not be  considered  either  unnecessary  or  stilted ;  it  is  in  fact 
an  aid  to  rapidity: 

In  edge,  in  delicacy,  in  proportion,  in  accuracy  of  effect,  they 
are  as  marble  to  our  sandstone. — John  Jay  Chapman,  Atlantic 
Classics,  second  series,  p.  184. 


COMMON  DEPENDENCE  AS  SUBJECT  OR  OBJECT  OF  VERB 

Where  successive  groups  are  subjects  or  objects  of  the 
same  verb,  the  series  may  be  separated  from  the  verb,  or 
grouped  with  it.  The  rule  that  there  shall  always  be  a 
comma  if  the  clauses  follow  the  verb,  or  a  dash  if  they 
precede,  is  obsolete.  The  rigid  application  of  such  a  rule 
has  effects  like  this: 

Philosophers  assert,  that  Nature  is  unlimited  in  her  opera- 
tions; that  she  has  inexhaustible  treasures  in  reserve;  that 
knowledge  will  always  be  progressive. — From  a  manual  of 
punctuation. 

The  following  sentences  illustrate  the  modern  practice 
in  common-dependence  pointing: 

The  character  of  the  binding,  the  color  of  it,  the  style  of  type 
used  on  the  cover  should  all  be  taken  into  account  and  should 
bear  some  relation  to  the  character  of  the  book. — J.  M.  Manly 
and  J.  A.  Powell,  A  Manual  for  Writers,  p.  204. 


126  Modern  Punctuation 

When  we  were  thrilled  to  read  how  superbly  those  hundreds 
died,  in  the  great  English  way,  a  man  pointed  out  that  they  did 
indeed  die  in  the  English  way,  and  that  our  pride  was  therefore 
ill-timed;  that  all  that  bravery  was  wasted;  that  the  tragedy 
was  in  the  shipwreck  of  intelligence. — John  Erskine,  The  Moral 
Obligation  to  Be  Intelligent,  p.  21. 

They  now  almost  cynically  admit  that  the  resolution  of  the 
Reichstag,  of  which  we  have  heard  so  much,  all  the  talk  of  no 
annexations  and  indemnities,  of  considering  the  wishes  of  sub- 
ject populations,  of  spreading  the  principles  of  security  and 
freedom  throughout  the  world,  was  what  we  sometimes  call 
camouflage. — From  an  address  by  A.  J.  Balfour,  as  reported  in 
a  New  York  newspaper. 

There  is  no  point  after  admit,  and  only  a  comma  separat- 
ing was  from  its  series  subject. 

A  series  of  appositives  depending  on  a  word  like  sup- 
position or  belief  is  like  a  series  depending  on  a  verb : 

Here  is  the  casual  assumption  that  a  choice  must  be  made 
between  goodness  and  intelligence;  that  stupidity  is  first  cousin 
to  moral  conduct,  and  cleverness  the  first  step  into  mischief; 
that  reason  and  God  are  not  good  terms  with  each  other;  that 
the  mind  and  the  heart  are  rival  buckets  in  the  well  of  truth, 
inexorably  balanced — full  mind,  starved  heart — stout  heart,  weak 
head. — John  Erskine,  The  Moral  Obligation  to  Be  Intelligent, 
p.  5f. 

Where  pointing  is  needed  for  a  parenthesis  at  the  end  of 
a  series,  the  second  parenthetical  point  will  indicate  the 
relation  of  the  series. 

Neither  the  English,  the  Russians,  the  Italians  nor  the  French, 
to  name  only  the  bigger  European  allies,  are  concerned  in  set- 
ting up  a  legend,  as  the  Germans  are  concerned  in  setting  up  a 
legend  of  themselves  to  impose  upon  mankind. — H.  G.  Wells, 
Italy,  France  and  Britain  at  War,  p.  3. 


Groups  in  Common  Dependence  127 

Summation  at  the  end  of  a  series  subject  by  means  of  an 
expression  like  these  can  usually  be  managed  with  the  dash 
or  comma  with  dash.  In  the  following  case  the  dash  car- 
ries a  supernumerary  comma. 

The  winning  or  losing  of  a  bit  of  territory  by  a  Louis  or  a 
Frederick,  the  laborious  piecing  together  of  a  puny  duchy  des- 
tined to  speedy  disintegration  upon  the  downfall  of  a  Caesar 
Borgia,  struggles  between  rival  dynasties,  the  ambitions  of 
young  kings'  uncles,  the  turning  of  an  enemy's  flank  a  thousand 
years  ago, — have  not  such  things  been  given  an  unmerited  promi- 
nence?— James  Harvey  Robinson,  The  New  History,  p.  8f. 

The  dash  is  appropriate  because  there  is  a  shift  of  struc- 
ture. 

That  clauses  in  common  dependence  shall  be  separated 
by  semicolons  is  a  traditional  rule  which  writers  freely  and 
properly  disregard.  The  following  sentence,  from  a  punc- 
tuation manual,  is  too  heavily  pointed: 

The  loss  of  home  and  business;  the  disruption  of  friendly  and 
social  ties;  the  death  of  friends  and  kindred;  the  endurance  of 
poverty  and  want, — these  are  a  few  of  the  miseries  which  war 
brings  to  many  or  all  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  regions  deso- 
lated by  this  scourge. 

Commas  would  be  lighter  and'  quite  sufficient  to  clear 
grouping.     The  comma  with  the  dash  is  unnecessary. 

As  in  some  of  the  examples  above,  semicolons  are  often 
used  between  groups  in  common  relation  to  a  verb.  Under 
other  circumstances,  as  in  this  sentence,  commas  are  suffi- 
cient : 

They  are  rejected  for  the  ideals  of  power,  for  the  principle 
that  the  strong  must  rule  the  weak,  that  trade  must  follow  the 
flag,  whether  those  to  whom  it  is  taken  welcome  it  or  not,  that 


128  Modern  Punctuation 

the  peoples  of  the  world  are  to  be  made  subject  to  the  patronage 
and  overlordship  of  those  who  have  the  power  to  enforce  it. — 
From  an  address  by  President  Wilson  as  reported  in  a  news- 
paper. 


SUSPENDED  SERIES 

A  series  may  be  suspended,  with  or  without  pointing, 
by  the  use  of  such  correlative  pairs  as  not  and  but,  not 
only  and  but  (or  but  also),  first  and  then,  rather  and  than, 
than  and  as.  In  correlative  series  managed  without  point- 
ing the  second  member  may  be  felt  as  a  restrictive  modifier. 
With  regard  to  the  pointing  of  suspended  series  there  is 
no  safe  general  rule.  With  not  and  but,  for  example,  there 
may  be  no  point,  one  point,  or  two  points. 

We  still  forget  that  they  come  not  to  see  but  to  invent  us. — 
F.  M.  Colby,  Constrained  Attitudes,  p.  204. 

Our  pacifism  (even  more  than  that  of  the  British)  was  the 
pacifism  of  sentimentality  and  materialistic  languor.  It  was  an 
outcropping  not  of  socialist  propaganda,  but  of  morbid  op- 
timism.— New  York  Tribune  (editorial),  April  3,  1918. 

It  will  be  all  the  easier  for  us  to  conduct  ourselves  as  bel- 
ligerents in  a  high  spirit  of  right  and  fairness  because  we  act 
without  animus,  not  in  enmity  toward  a  people  or  with  the  desire 
to  bring  any  injury  or  disadvantage  upon  them,  but  only  in 
armed  opposition  to  an  irresponsible  Government  which  has 
thrown  aside  all  considerations  of  humanity  and  of  right  and  is 
running  amuck. — President  Wilson,  Message  to  the  Congress, 
April  2,  1917. 

The  length  and  weight  of  the  parts  are  circumstances 
to  be  considered,  but  not  the  only  circumstances.  Point- 
ing for  distinctness  may  be  desirable  even  when  the  mem- 
bers of  the  series  are  short. 


Suspended  Series  129 

It  is  from  the  design,  rather  than  the  wording,  that  the  first 
impressions  are  gained. — F.  J.  Trezise,  The  Typography  of  Ad- 
vertisements, Preface. 

A  series  may  be  suspended  by  a  parenthesis: 

On  Comte's  effort  to  erect  a  new  polity  and  a  new  religion,  with 
himself  as  its  high  priest  and  pontiff,  nobody  has  brought  to 
bear,  I  will  not  say  merely  so  much  hostile  criticism,  but  such 
downright  indignation,  as  Mr.  Mill. — John  Morley,  Critical  Mis- 
cellanies, vol.  IV,  p.  111. 

In  pedantic  usage,  however,  there  is  a  certain,  though  for- 
tunately but  a  slight,  degree  of  danger. — Thomas  R.  Lounsbury, 
The  Standard  of  Usage  in  English,  p.  164. 

The  pointing  of  the  sentence  from  Mr.  Lounsbury  suspends 
attention  too  emphatically  upon  certain  and  slight. 


SUSPENDED  PARTICLES 

Punctuated  suspended  groups  ending  with  prepositions 
or  conjunctions  are  still  used,  but  seldom  with  good  effect. 
This  device  is  at  once  illustrated  and  characterized  by  a 
sentence  cited  by  Mr.  J.  F.  Genung  in  his  Practical  Ele- 
ments of  Rhetoric: 

Elegance  prohibits  an  arrangement  that  throws  the  emphasis 
on,  and  thus  causes  a  suspension  of  the  sense  at,  a  particle 
or  other  unimportant  word. 

All  that  can  be  managed  by  this  venerable  artifice  can  be 
better  managed  otherwise,  as  in  this  sentence  from  one 
of  President  Wilson's  messages  to  Congress: 

Indeed,  it  is  now  evident  .  .  .  that  the  intrigues  which  have 
more  than  once  come  perilously  near  to  disturbing  the  peace  and 


130  Modern  Punctuation 

dislocating  the  industries  of  the  country  have  been  carried  on 
at  the  instigation,  with  the  support,  and  even  under  the  personal 
direction,  of  official  agents  of  the  Imperial  German  Government 
accredited  to  the  Government  of  the  United  States. 


DISGUISED  SERIES 

For  the  sake  of  lightness  or  informality  the  series  rela- 
tion is  often  concealed.  In  the  following  sentences  series 
is  managed  unobtrusively  with  if,  though,  and  as. 

Bute  was  the  figurehead  of  a  group  of  Tories  who  set  about 
fulfilling  the  fine  if  fanciful  scheme  for  a  democratic  monarchy 
sketched  by  Bolingbroke  in  "The  Patriot  King."— G.  K.  Ches- 
terton, The  Crimes  of  England,  p.  36. 

Macaulay's  world-wide  generalization  is  very  true  though  very 
Macaulayese. — 76.,  p.  34. 

The  failure  of  our  intellectuals  to  visualize  this  alarming 
situation  and  to  send  out  a  warning  in  time  to  meet  it  with  ade- 
quate preparation  will  ever  remain  one  of  the  most  amazing,  as  it 
is  one  of  the  most  tragic,  of  all  the  facts  connected  with  this  ter- 
rible war.— W.  H.  Hobbs,  in  the  New  York  Tribune,  April  16, 
1918. 

Correlation  with  both  and  and,  or  as  and  as,  may  be  con- 
sidered a  disguised  form  of  series.  The  second  member  of 
such  a  series  may  have  the  effect  of  a  restrictive  modifier. 
The  following  sentences  are  from  the  New  York  Tribune 
(April  16,  1918)  : 

He  was  as  cynical  as  they  were  in  exacting  all  that  it  was 
thought  worth  while  to  exact  from  Russia  and  Rumania. 

There  was  undoubtedly  a  time,  however,  when  both  Czernin 
and  the  young  Emperor  were  almost  as  eager  to  purchase  peace 
as  Lenine  and  Trotzky  later  showed  themselves  to  be. 


Special  Grouping  131 

In  the  following  sentence  the  correlatives  not  alone  and 
but  imply  a  sort  of  restrictive  relation,  but  there  is  punc- 
tuation for  the  sake  of  distinct  grouping: 

Print  depends  for  its  proper  effect  not  alone  upon  the  type 
of  face  selected,  but  also  upon  its  size;  not  alone  upon  the  type 
itself,  but  also  upon  its  spacing,  its  arrangement,  its  combina- 
tion with  other  types. — Benjamin  Sherbow,  Making  Type  Work, 
p.  1. 

II.   POINTING  FOR   SPECIAL  GROUPING,  SUSPENSION,  OR 
SPECIAL  EMPHASIS 

As  any  structural  point  may  be  called  suspensive,  the 
matter  of  this  section  must  be  narrowly  limited.  Other- 
wise there  would  be  need  to  repeat  much  from  the  sec- 
tions on  paragraph  and  sentence  pointing,  the  pointing 
of  main  clauses,  and  so  on  through  preliminaries,  par- 
entheses, afterthoughts,  and  series.  Suspension  is  there- 
fore arbitrarily  limited  in  this  section  to  the  sentence,  and 
to  cases  where  pointing  is  not  called  for  by  the  require- 
ments of  series,  parenthetical  structure,  or  the  grouping 
of  modifiers.  Cases  of  suspension,  so  limited,  include  (1) 
interruption  not  at  structural  division  lines,  (2)  sudden 
turn  of  structure,  (3)  suspension  by  the  hyphen.  Inter- 
ruption pointing  includes  the  separation  of  subject  from 
verb,  of  object  from  verb  or  preposition,  of  complement 
from  verb,  and  of  a  grammatical  connective  from  the  fol- 
lowing link  of  a  series. 

The  characteristic  suspension  point  in  ordinary  use  is 
the  dash;  suspension  periods  are  not  entirely  naturalized, 
commas  not  always  distinct  or  strong  enough.  Where 
suspension  occurs  after  a  formal  introductory  group  the 
customary  point  is  the  colon,  with  the  dash  as  an  occasional 


132  Modern  Punctuation 

alternative.     The  use  of  the  hyphen  for  suspension  is  in- 
frequent. 


1.   INTERRUPTION  POINTING 

Interruption  may  take  place  at  any  part  of  the  sentence, 
as  between  verb  and  object,  between  preposition  and  object, 
or  after  a  connective  like  but. 

Then  he  opens  his  palm,  disclosing1 — a  latchkey  1 — Walter 
Prichard  Eaton,  The  American  Stage  of  To-day,  p.  36. 

Those  present  were:  Messrs.  Rea,  Collins,  Pinckney,  and 
Little. 

The  fact  is,  I  never  heard  of  him  until  ten  minutes  ago. 

The  colon  in  the  second  sentence  is  excessively  formal. 
The  comma  in  the  third  sentence  groups  the  first  three 
words  as  being  preliminary  rather  than  structural.  A 
somewhat  different  case  occurs  in  the  following  sentence, 
the  third  comma  making  the  succeeding  words  a  suspended 
complement : 

Here,  as  always  in  translating,  the  one  safe  rule  is,  com- 
promise,— and  in  this  the  instinct  of  the  born  translator  is  re- 
vealed.—F.  T.  Cooper,  The  Craftsmanship  of  Writing,  p.  265. 

The  use  of  suspension  periods  was  once  satirized  in  this 
fashion  by  Mr.  Don  Marquis  in  the  New  York  Evening 
Sun: 

Whenever  you  see  .  .  .  three  little  dots  .  .  .  such  as 
these  ...  in  the  stuff  of  a  modern  versifier  .  .  .  even  in 
our  stuff  ...  it  means  that  the  writer  ...  is  trying  to  sug- 
gest something  rather  .  .  .  well,  elusive,  if  you  get  what  we 
mean  .  .  .  and  the  reason  he  suggests  it  instead  of  expressing 


The  "Long  Subject"  133 

it  ...  is  ...  very  often  .    .    .  because  it  is  an  almost  idea 
.    .    .  instead  of  a  real  idea.   .    . 

But  since  suspension  periods  are  used  by  many  writers 
of  high  standing,  they  are  not  subject  to  any  general  con- 
demnation. 


THE  "LONG  SUBJECT"  WITH  COMMA 

According  to  an  evil  tradition  the  comma  is  used — 
" required"  is  sometimes  the  word — between  a  long  subject 
and  its  verb,  or  after  any  subject  ending  with  a  finite  verb. 

This  pointing  occurs  now  and  then  even  in  newspapers, 
which  are  usually  economical  though  not  always  careful. 

As  a  rule  the  long-subject  comma  is  awkward.  Points 
setting  off  a  parenthesis  intervening  between  subject  and 
verb  are  a  means  of  bridging  a  gap  in  the  structure ;  simi- 
larly a  point  at  the  end  of  a  series  may  be  a  normal  and 
convenient  means  of  clearness.  But  a  point  which  does 
nothing  but  intervene  between  elements  usually  grouped 
together  is  anomalous  and  contrary  to  careful  present 
usage.  Structure  which  requires  the  long-subject  comma 
for  clearness  is  usually  bad  structure. 

What  was,  was.— Arnold  Bennett,  These  Twain,  p.  371. 

If  we  recognize  that  whatever  is  in  usage  is  right,  we  must 
be  prepared  to  go  a  step  further  and  concede  that  whatever  was 
was  right. — Thomas  R.  Lounsbury,  The  Standard  of  Usage  in 
English,  p.  100. 

The  first  sentence  is  according  to  the  traditional  rule. 
The  second,  with  no  comma  before  the  second  was,  is  clear 
and  quite  in  accordance  with  modern  practice.  In  the 
following  sentence  there  is  a  long  subject  with  two  commas, 
but  without  punctuation  at  the  end: 


134  Modern  Punctuation 

The  very  fact  that  the  same  word,  romantic,  is  used  to  desig- 
nate the  wonder  of  the  infinite  and  the  wonder  of  the  limitless 
shows  how  easily  we  merge  together  these  extreme  opposites. — 
Paul  Elmer  More,  The  Drift  of  Romanticism,  p.  233. 

2.    SHIFT  OF  STRUCTURE 

Where  the  structure  of  the  sentence  is  broken  short  or 
suddenly  changed,  the  usual  punctuation  mark  is  the  dash. 

To  let  one's  self  go — that  is  what  art  is  always  aiming  at. — 
J.  E.  Spingarn,  Creative  Criticism,  p.  120. 

Whether  it  will  be  followed  by  a  second  offensive  of  equal 
magnitude,  or  whether  a  counter-offensive  will  drive  back  the 
Germans,  or  whether  they  will  "dig  in"  where  they  are  and  main- 
tain their  lines — these  are  questions  which  it  is  not  possible  to 
answer  as  we  write. — The  Outlook,  April  10,  1918. 

Both  of  these  shifts  of  structure  are  technically  cases  of 
apposition.  So  also  are  the  following,  which  are  managed 
with  comma  and  colon: 

To  have  sensations  in  the  presence  of  a  work  of  art  and  to 
express  them,  that  is  the  function  of  Criticism  for  the  impres- 
sionistic critic. — J.  E.  Spingarn,  Creative  Criticism,  p.  5. 

Life  everlasting,  eternity,  forever  and  ever:  these  are  tre- 
mendous words  for  even  a  grown  person  to  face ;  and  for  a  child 
— if  he  grasp  their  significance  at  all — they  may  be  hardly  short 
of  appalling. — Margaret  P.  Montague,  Twenty  Minutes  of 
Reality,  p.  If. 

As  apposition  points  the  colon  and  the  comma  are  ap- 
propriate; but  in  practice  the  customary  mark  of  a  shift 
even  with  appositive  construction  is  the  dash. 

3.    SUSPENSION  WITH  THE  HYPHEN 

The  hyphen  is  sometimes  used,  especially  in  fiction,  to 
indicate  hesitation. 


Hyphen  Suspension.    Ellipsis  135 

At  the  end  of  the  cell  scene  [in  Justice]  the  younger,  who 
stammers,  turned  to  his  elder  and  said:  "It's  n-not  so — j-j — oily 
as  all  that!"— John  Galsworthy,  A  Sheaf,  p.  161. 

The  hyphen  is  also  employed  to  utilize  the  second  part 
of  a  compound  word  for  two  compounds,  as  in  the  expres- 
sion out  of  eye-  and  ear-shot  of  the  master  or  interrogation- 
and  exclamation  marks.  This  stilted  construction,  pre- 
sumably borrowed  from  Germany,  is  seldom  used  in  good 
non-technical  writing.  But  in  a  sentence  like  this,  hyphen 
suspension  is  convenient: 

Open  leaders  [periods  or  dots]  run  one  dot  to  the  em,  and 
are  cast  on  one-,  two-  and  three-em  units.  Close  leaders  are 
cast  on  en,  em,  and  two-  and  three-em  units,  and  are  some- 
times used  as  a  substitute  for  dotted  rule. — Frank  S.  Henry, 
Printing  for  School  and  Shop,  p.  293. 


III.   ELLIPSIS  POINTING 

As  the  pointing  of  ellipsis  in  quotations  will  be  treated 
in  Chapter  VII,  the  present  section  is  concerned  only  with 
the  indication  of  omissions  from  original  matter.  And 
since  the  marks  which  indicate  omission  from  a  word  are 
partly  treated  under  etymological  pointing,  the  matter  of 
this  section  is  reduced  to  small  dimensions. 

"Ellipsis"  need  not  be  strained  to  include  the  omission 
of  the  subject  from  the  imperative  sentence,  or  the  old- 
fashioned  splitting  of  particles  ("he  came  to,  and  was 
induced  to  remain  in,  our  community"),  or  the  everyday- 
use  of  clipped  sentences,  or  the  omission  of  the  relative 
from  such  an  expression  as  a  man  I  once  saw  in  New  York. 
It  is  a  rash  assumption  to  say  that  an  element  has  been 
"omitted."  The  fact  is  merely  that  the  ordinary  full 
sentence  would  have  the  element  expressed.  Sentence 


136  Modern  Punctuation 

words  and  phrases,  omitting  subject  or  verb  or  both,  are! 
frequent  and  normal. 

ELLIPSIS  FOR  CONCEALMENT 

The  customary  mark  for  an  omission  dictated  by  actual 
or  assumed  desire  for  concealment  is  the  dash,  which  may 
be  of  the  ordinary  em  length  or  longer.  The  style  book 
of  the  Chicago  Daily  News,  for  example,  has  this  rule: 
"Insert  dashes  of  suitable  length  in  'swear  words'  or,  if 
the  copy  has  the  whole  word  blanked,  follow  copy." 
Damn  and  its  derivatives  may  be  concealed,  like  the  key 
under  the  door-mat,  by  the  form  d — d  rascal,  Tie  said  lie 

didn't  care  a  ,  and  the  like.     The  name  Mr.  Brown 

may  be  masked  under  the  forms  Mr.  B ,  Mr.  , 

or  Mr.  B n.     Much  less  often  asterisks  or  periods  are 

used  to  indicate  the  omission  of  letters,  in  which  case  the 
number  of  marks  will  suggest  even  if  it  does  not  represent 
an  equal  number  of  omitted  letters. 

ELLIPSIS  OR  GROUPING  WITH  THE  COMMA 

The  use  of  the  comma  for  what  is  traditionally  supposed 
to  be  ellipsis  of  the  verb  occurs  in  cases  of  the  following 
sort.  The  doctrine  contained  in  the  sentence  from  Goold 
Brown  is  of  course  obsolete. 

The  Comma  denotes  the  shortest  pause;  the  Semicolon,  a 
pause  double  that  of  the  comma;  the  Colon,  a  pause  double  that 
of  the  semicolon;  and  the  period,  or  Full  Stop,  a  pause  double 
that  of  the  colon. — Goold  Brown,  The  Grammar  of  English 
Grammars  (second  edition,  1858),  p.  772. 

Kindness  secures  cooperation;  harshness,  opposition. — Ex- 
ample from  a  manual  of  punctuation. 

Better  the  light-hearted  unconcern  of  Mr.  John  Richard  Green, 
the  historian,  who,  albeit  a  clergyman  of  the  Church  of  England, 


Ellipsis  of  the  Verb  137 

preferred  going  to  the  Church  of  Rome  when  Catholicism  had  an 
organ,  and  Protestantism,  a  harmonium. — Agnes  Repplier, 
Americans  and  Others,  p.  128. 

It  is  clear  that  verbs  are  omitted — in  the  sense  of  not  being 
used — at  certain  places  marked  by  commas;  but  whether 
these  sentences  are  well  punctuated  is  another  matter.  The 
pointing  of  the  first  is  formal,  but  not  otherwise  objection- 
able. The  second  sentence  is  hopeless  in  both  structure 
and  pointing.  The  third  is  a  good  sentence  marred  by 
clumsy  pointing  near  the  end. 

The  tradition  that  ellipsis  of  the  verb  requires  pointing 
cannot  endure  examination.  Suppression  of  the  verb  has 
been  common  a  long  time,  is  in  fact  an  ordinary  means  of 
economy  and  rapidity.  Where  the  structure  is  clear,  omis- 
sion of  the  verb  needs  no  marking. 

But  the  fact  is  that  Homer  floats  in  the  central  stream  of 
history,  Shakespeare  in  an  eddy. — John  Jay  Chapman,  Atlantic 
Classics,  second  series,  p.  184. 

The  fundamental  fact  is  that  for  him  Scots  was  the  natural 
language  of  the  emotions,  English  of  the  intellect. — W.  A.  Neil- 
son,  Burns:  How  to  Know  Him,  p.  73. 

If  these  sentences  were  pointed  according  to  the  traditional 
style  ("Homer  was  the  greater  genius;  Virgil,  the  greater 
artist"),  they  would  become  unwieldy  without  the  slightest 
gain  in  clearness. 

If  a  verb  ought  to  be  omitted,  the  omission  can  always 
be  managed  without  a  device  so  clumsy  as  the  ellipsis 
comma.  As  a  rule,  a  comma  standing  for  an  omitted 
verb  will  defeat  the  very  purpose  of  the  omission. 

THE  GROUPING  OF  NAMES  AND  FIGURES 

In  such  expressions  as  Nashville,  Tenne-ssee  and  April 
7,  1918  the  comma  indicates  grouping  rather  than  ellipsis. 


138  Modern  Punctuation 

Tennessee  and  1918  are  limiting  elements  set  off  for  clear- 
ness. 

In  the  date  style  May  7, 1915  the  comma  is  useful ;  in  the 
style  7  May  1915,  recommended  by  so  eminent  an  authority 
as  Sir  James  Murray,  there  is  no  need  of  a  comma,  because 
the  figures  are  not  adjacent ;  nor  is  there  any  fundamental 
reason  why  the  expression  in  August  1914  should  take  a 
comma  or  two  commas.  In  a  sentence  like  this  the  two 
commas  are  distinctly  inconvenient : 

In  April,  1918,  the  United  States  entered  the  great  war. 

But  custom  is  so  obstinate  that  the  two  commas  are  usually 
considered  necessary.  In  this  as  in  certain  other  matters 
of  punctuation  British  writers  are  less  conservative. 

If  an  address  like  Albany,  New  York  is  written  in  two 
lines  on  an  envelope,  there  is  no  need  of  a  comma.  Group- 
ing by  pointing  or  white  space  is  called  for  not  by  ellipsis 
but  by  requirements  of  clearness. 


CHAPTER  VII 

QUOTATION,  ETYMOLOGICAL,  AND  REFERENCE 
POINTING 

WITH  A  NOTE  ON  CAPITALS  AND  ITALIC 

THE  punctuation  marks  treated  in  this  chapter  are  more 
subject  to  legislation  for  uniformity  than  comma,  semi- 
colon, dash,  curves,  or  the  sentence  points.  Questions  of 
structural  pointing  are  questions  of  art  which  cannot  be 
settled  by  general  or  even  minute  prescription.  The  uses 
of  quote  marks,  hyphens,  the  apostrophe,  and  the  abbrevi- 
ation point  also  involve  questions  of  rhetorical  art,  but  in 
a  less  degree.  There  must  be  certain  definite  rules  or  there 
can  be  no  good  printing. 

But  the  present  chapter  is  not  a  compendium  of  rules. 
Its  purpose  is  only  to  point  out  the  more  usual  customs, 
with  the  rhetorical  considerations  applicable  to  whatever 
set  of  styles  one  may  happen  to  follow. 

I.    THE  POINTING  OF  QUOTATIONS 

Quotation  points  properly  include  not  only  the  double 
and  single  quotation  marks  but  also  marks  of  omission  or 
interpolation,  and  points  used  with  words  introducing  or 
interrupting  quotations. 

The  printer's  double  quote  marks  are  usually  two 
inverted  commas  and  two  apostrophes,  or  equivalent 
logotypes,  single  quotes  being  one  inverted  comma  and  one 

139 


140  Modern  Punctuation 

apostrophe.  Typewriter  quotes  are  usually  the  same  in 
form  for  both  the  beginning  and  the  end  of  a  quotation. 
All  of  these  will  be  called  quote  marks  or  quotes. 

Save  for  a  quotation  within  a  quotation,  most  American 
printers  use  double  quotes  for  both  citation  and  special 
designation.  But  there  are  exceptions.  The  Atlantic 
Monthly  and  some  book  publishers  employ  single  quotes 
for  both  citation  and  special  designation,  reserving  double 
quotes  for  secondary  quotation.  Certain  other  publications 
differentiate  the  two  kinds  of  quoted  expressions  by  using 
double  quotes  for  ordinary  citation  (with  single  quotes  for 
secondary  quotation)  and  single  quotes  for  slang,  words 
as  words,  terms  with  special  meaning,  and  some  other 
expressions  not  specifically  quoted.  The  distinction  be- 
tween citation  and  special  designation  is  convenient  in 
many  ways  and  appears  to  be  growing  in  favor. 

Quote  marks  are  used  to  indicate  direct  borrowing  of 
phraseology  or  to  designate  an  expression  as  being  special, 
peculiar,  or  of  such  nature  that  the  writer  using  it  wishes 
to  rid  himself  of  responsibility.  Indirect  quotation,  as  in 
the  sentence  He  promised  that  Tie  would  come,  is  not  occa- 
sion for  the  use  of  quote  marks ;  but  as  a  matter  of  course 
an  expression  in  another 's  words  may  be  embedded  in  the 
indirect  quotation,  and  accordingly  credited. 

Mr.  Lounsbury  maintained  the  opinion  that  "no  rules  of  verbal 
criticism  are  worthy  of  consideration  unless  they  are  supported 
by  the  concurrent  usage  of  the  best  writers." 

As  quote  marks  imply  that  some  one  is  being  correctly 
cited,  the  borrower  should  keep  the  phraseology  unchanged 
and  continuous,  or  give  clear  indication  to  the  contrary. 
It  is  improper  to  italicize  any  part  of  a  quoted  passage  with- 
out notice  of  the  fact,  or  to  make  any  change  in  pointing  or 
capitals  that  would  misrepresent  the  meaning.  The  change 


Problems  in  Citation  141 

of  a  hyphened  to  a  solid  word  or  of  double  to  single  quoter 
may  be  permissible ;  not  so  the  substitution  of  exclamations 
or  admiring  capitals.  Every  ellipsis  or  interpolation  should 
be  indicated  except  where  the  quotation  is  confessedly  a 
mosaic.  Otherwise  the  quotation  is  unfair. 

One  duty  easily  forgotten  when  the  writer  is  in  a  hurry 
is  to  insert  the  terminal  quote  mark.  The  reader  should 
know  where  a  citation  ends. 


QUOTES  AND  WHITE  SPACE 

In  the  use  of  quotations  there  are  problems  not  merely 
of  honesty  but  of  design  and  style.  Quote  marks  are  often 
inconvenient  with  respect  to  movement,  tone,  and  the  looks 
of  the  page. 

The  objection  to  the  usual  form  of  printing  office  double 
quotes — an  objection  applying  only  in  part  to  quotes  writ- 
ten with  the  typewriter — is  thus  stated  by  Mr.  De  Vinne: 

When  English  printers  did  decide  to  mark  quotations,  they 
refused  the  French  form,  and  made  a  very  awkward  substitute 
by  inverting  two  commas  for  the  beginning  and  using  two  apos- 
trophes for  the  ending  of  the  quotation.  The  quote  marks  so 
substituted  "  "  are  what  Moxon  calls  a  makeshift  de\ice,  for 
these  signs,  wrested  from  their  first  purpose,  are  not  symmetrical 
mates :  the  apostrophe  on  the  five-to-em  body  is  made  thinner  than 
the  comma  on  the  four-to-em  body,  and  their  knobby  endings  are 
not  in  true  line.  Unlike  other  characters  in  the  font,  they  occupy 
the  upper  part  of  the  body,  and  leave  an  unsightly  blank  below, 
often  to  the  detriment  of  even  spacing. — Correct  Composition, 
p.  209f. 

Mr.  De  Vinne  says  elsewhere  that  "the  French  method 
of  using  a  distinct  reversible  sign  for  quotation,  which  is 
put  in  the  middle  of  the  face,  is  preferable  in  every  way. ' ' 


142  Modern  Punctuation 

In  some  modern  fonts  a  special  beginning  quote  is  made, 
with  the  knobs  in  line ;  but  the  white-space  gaps  remain. 


QUOTES  AND  STYLE 

Quotation  is  attended  with  certain  dangers.  There  is 
the  risk  of  seeming  pedantic  or  self-conscious,  of  emphasiz- 
ing unduly  the  form  of  words,  of  making  a  patchwork  out 
of  matter  which  ought  to  be  original. 

Self-quotation  may  seem  lazy  or  self-satisfied.  Unless 
there  is  clear  reason  for  citing  the  exact  words  one  has  used 
on  a  former  occasion,  it  is  usually  best  to  cite  in  substance. 
When  quotation  marks  call  attention  to  one's  own  verbal 
felicity,  they  exhibit  bad  taste  almost  more  glaringly  than 
any  other  device  of  punctuation. 

His  "discourteous  courtesy,"  as  I  once  called  it,  made  his  pres- 
ence unwelcome. 

Even  when  quote  marks  are  not  self-conscious,  they  may 
be  open  to  objection  because  too  emphatic.  Whatever  the 
writer's  intention,  quote  marks  emphasize  whatever  they 
enclose.  As  the  marks  with  their  white-space  gaps  catch 
the  eye,  they  effect  a  sort  of  grouping  that  suggests  struc- 
tural division. 

According  to  Mr.  More's  opinion,  Pater  was  not  in  any  "proper 
sense  a  critic." 

The  quote  mark  intervenes  awkwardly  between  parts  of 
the  close  group  in  any  proper  sense. 

The  consideration  of  emphasis  may  suggest  the  advis- 
ability of  quoting  in  substance  rather  than  directly. 

He  said,  "I  cannot  possibly  agree  to  your  terms." 
He  said  he  could  not  possibly  agree  to  my  terms. 


Awkward  Quote  Marks  143 

The  first  form  may  happen  to  be  too  emphatic.     But  if 
the  exact  wording  is  important,  direct  quotation  is  in  order. 
The  consideration  of  emphasis  applies,  as  a  matter  of 
course,  to  quote  marks  used  for  special  designation. 

Mrs.  Stowe  wrote  "Uncle  Tom's  Cabin"  while  "keeping  house" 
in  Brunswick,  Maine,  where  her  husband  was  a  Bowdoin  College 
professor. — D.  C.  Seitz,  Training  for  the  Newspaper  Trade, 
p.  30. 

In  American  affairs  to-day  the  editor  does  not  "commune" 
with  "leaders."— Ib.,  p.  55. 

The  unnecessary  quotes  enclosing  the  phrases  keeping 
house,  commune,  and  leaders  give  them  extravagant  and 
apparently  self-conscious  emphasis. 

The  danger  of  using  quote  marks  unadvisedly  was  once 
illustrated  by  the  formula  under  which  a  country  dentist 
advertised  himself:  John  Doe,  "Dentist." 


OMISSION  OF  QUOTE  MARKS 

Under  some  circumstances  quote  marks  may  be  or  should 
be  omitted  as  unnecessary,  unsightly,  or  too  emphatic. 
The  following  are  the  principal  cases  in  which  the  use  of 
quote  marks  for  citation  or  for  special  designation  is  either 
unnecessary  or  wrong : 

1.  When  the  expression  is  common  property.  Mr.  De 
Vinne  says:  "  There  are  phrases  in  the  Bible,  in  Shake- 
spere,  Milton,  and  other  famous  authors,  which  by  their 
terseness  have  become  what  may  be  called  verbal  coins  in 
the  English  language,  and  their  origin  and  value  should  be 
known  to  every  reader.  To  fence  in  with  quote-marks 
phrases  like  these — not  of  an  age,  but  for  all  time;  the 
knell  of  parting  day;  the  observed  of  all  observers;  to  the 
manner  born — implies  on  the  part  of  the  author  a  low  esti- 


144  Modern  Punctuation 

mate  of  the  reader's  knowledge  of  literature.  .  .  .  This 
remark  may  be  applied  to  all  trite  proverbs  and  hackneyed 
sayings,  which  do  not  need  quote-marks  any  more  than  they 
need  foot-notes  citing  author,  book,  and  page."  The  pre- 
cise line  between  individual  and  common  property  in 
language  cannot  be  specified,  except  that  one  should  label 
as  a  quotation  any  borrowed  wording  which  could  possibly 
be  taken  as  original. 

An  exception  to  the  practice  of  dispensing  with  quote 
marks  may  be  made  in  the  case  even  of  the  most  familiar 
sayings  when  the  precise  form  of  words  is  important. 

2.  When  the  context  gives  adequate  credit.     But  this 
is  only  a  ' '  may, ' '  not  a  '  *  must. ' '    If  quote  marks  are  needed 
to  show  the  precise  limits  of  the  quotation,  or  needed  for 
emphasis,   designation   by  wording  is  insufficient.     As  a 
matter  of  fact  the  majority  of  quoted  passages  acknow- 
ledged with  quote  marks  are  also  credited  in  words. 

She  did  not  precisely  burn  with  that  hard,  gemlike  flame  which 
Mr.  Pater  recommended. — Simeon  Strunsky,  Post-Impressions, 
p.  121. 

It  will  not  always  do  to  say  with  Shakespeare  that  comparisons 
are  "odorous."  There  is  danger  of  being  taken  for  an  ignoramus. 

To  enclose  hard,  gemlike  flame  in  quote  marks  would  give 
it  extravagant  and  pedantic  emphasis.  In  the  second  pas- 
sage the  word  odorous  is  enclosed  in  quotes  for  special  dis- 
tinctness. 

3.  When  the  expression  is  a  quotation  only  in  form. 

He  said  to  himself,  Now  I  am  in  for  it. 

As  the  Governor  of  North  Carolina  said  to  the  Governor  of 
South  Carolina,  it's  a  long  time  between  drinks. 

In  short,  .  .  .  the  rule  should  be:  Nature  manipulated  only 
to  discover  its  best  values,  and  make  it  tractable. — T.  H.  Dickin- 
son, The  Case  of  American  Drama,  p.  139. 


Citation  without  Quotes  145 

4.  When  the  boundaries  of  the  quotation  are  made  clear 
by  change  of  type  face,  shortening  of  lines,  or  other  mechan- 
ical means.  A  "run-in"  quotation  (one  which  does  not 
begin  a  new  paragraph)  need  not  be  in  quotes  if  set  in 
italic  or  bold-face.  Nor  is  there  need  to  use  quote  marks 
for  reduced-type  extracts  set  as  separate  paragraphs,  unless 
in  series  without  clear  indication  of  their  origin  and  dis- 
continuity. 

There  is  no  general  agreement  regarding  choice  between 
the  run-in  style  with  quotes  and  the  reduced-type  style, 
except  that  short  quotations  and  quotations  of  less  than  a 
sentence,  however  long,  are  commonly  run  in.  But  excep- 
tions are  made  for  the  sake  of  emphasis. 

In  some  publications  reduced-type  extracts  are  regularly 
enclosed  in  quote  marks,  the  marks  being  used  according 
to  a  conservative  office  style,  not  because  needed  for  clear- 
ness. If  there  is  merely  a  change  from  leaded  to  solid  type 
of  the  same  size,  without  a  shortening  of  lines,  there  is 
more  reason  for  the  use  of  quote  marks  than  in  the  usual 
reduced-type  style. 

In  the  reports  of  debates  and  the  like,  the  occurrence  of 
the  speaker's  name  or  of  Q.  and  A.  (for  Question  and 
Answer)  before  each  part  of  the  dialogue  will  make  quote 
marks  unnecessary. 

The  PRESIDING  OFFICER    (Mr.  Gallinger  in  the  chair). 
Shall  the  bill  pass? 
Mr.  CULLOM.    I  ask  for  the  yeas  and  nays. 

This  is  the  Congressional  Record  style  followed  by  the 
Government  Printing  Office.  The  following,  cited  verbatim 
from  the  style  book  of  the  Chicago  Daily  News  (1908), 
illustrates  another  way  of  setting  question  and  answer 
dialogue,  this  time  with  quotes: 

Q.— "Who  struck  Billy  Patterson?"    A.— "Congressman  Hitt." 


146  Modern  Punctuation 

The  style  recommended  in  Mr.  G.  M.  Hyde's  Newspaper 
Editing  is  this: 

Q. — What  is  your  name?    A. — Oscar  Brown. 

QUOTE  MARKS  FOR  SPECIAL  DESIGNATION 

Quote  marks  are  often  used  for  expressions  which  it 
would  be  inaccurate  to  call  quotations.  Among  these  are 
nicknames,  misnomers,  slang  phrases,  technical  and  unusual 
phrases;  translations  or  paraphrases;  names  of  ships  and 
rarely  of  buildings;  titles  of  books,  periodicals,  poems,  and 
works  of  musical  or  plastic  art;  and  expressions  used  with 
satirical  intent,  the  quote  marks  meaning  "so-called." 
When  so-called  or  its  equivalent  is  expressed,  quotes  are 
either  used  or  omitted  according  to  circumstances. 

A  rule  that  quote  marks  must  be  used  in  these  cases  or  in 
any  one  of  them  would  be  misleading,  save  as  an  office 
rule.  In  the  first  place,  an  expression  once  designated  as 
slang,  once  defined,  or  once  designated  as  a  nickname,  may 
thereafter  be  treated  as  an  ordinary  expression. 

One  cannot  plan  a  life  in  conventions  without  cutting  out  of  it 
many  wayward  desires  and  "beautiful  impulses."  The  young 
lions  and  lionesses  of  radicalism  are  forcing  the  question  upon 
us  whether  one  can  plan  a  life  in  beautiful  impulses  and  wayward 
desires  without  cutting  out  the  plan. — Stuart  P.  Sherman,  On 
Contemporary  Literature,  p.  119. 

The  repetition  of  quote  marks  when  the  phrase  beautiful 
impulses  occurs  a  second  time  would  be  unfortunate. 
Under  other  circumstances  the  repetition  of  quote  marks 
may  be  desirable. 

Again,  there  is  much  latitude  of  choice  between  quote 
marks  and  italic.  In  many  publishing  houses  book  titles 
are  set  in  italic  instead  of  being  quoted ;  and  in  some  publi- 


Special  Designation  147 

cations  titles  are  set  "roman  open,"  with  neither  italic  nor 
quotes.  Names  of  ships  are  italicized  by  some  publishers, 
quoted  by  others,  and  by  others  set  roman  open.  Foreign 
phrases  not  naturalized  or  familiar  are  ordinarily  italicized ; 
but  foreign  extracts  exceeding  a  few  words  in  length  may 
be  treated  as  if  English. 

For  cases  subject  to  legislation,  such  as  the  setting  of 
book  titles,  it  is  well  to  follow  a  single  style  book.  Where 
one  has  choice  of  styles,  the  consideration  of  emphasis  will 
often  be  decisive. 

In  the  naming  of  words  as  words  the  options  are  quote 
marks  (double  or  single),  italic  or  other  distinctive  type, 
initial  capital  or  capitals,  and  ' '  roman  lower-case  open. ' ' 

Crazy  (literally  'cracked')  and  insane  ('unsound')  were  at 
first  milder  terms  for  mad,  but  they  now  carry  the  full  force  of 
the  idea  in  question. — J.  B.  Greenough  and  G.  L.  Kittredge, 
Words  and  Their  Ways  in  English  Speech,  p.  307. 

To  the  ordinary  American  the  Monroe  Doctrine  carries  with  it 
a  certain  authority  and  sanctity.  It  comes  from  the  word  "doc- 
trine," which  he  associates  with  religion  rather  than  with  politics. 
A  doctrine  is  something  to  be  believed,  and  publicly  professed. — 
S.  M.  Crothers,  The  Pleasures  of  an  Absentee  Landlord,  p.  154. 

In  his  writings  as  in  his  talk,  he  was  not  afraid  to  be  seen  for 
what  he  actually  was;  and  just  as,  when  asked  how  he  came  to 
explain  the  word  Pastern  as  meaning  the  knee  of  a  horse,  he 
replied  at  once,  "Ignorance,  madam,  pure  ignorance,"  so  in  his 
books  he  made  no  attempt  to  be  thought  wiser  or  more  learned 
than  he  was. — John  Bailey,  Dr.  Johnson  and  His  Circle,  p.  32. 

The  dashing  cruel  wave  that  rhymed  with  save  appeared  to  me 
intensely  realistic. — Arnold  Bennett,  The  Truth  about  an  Author, 
p.  13. 

The  preparation  for  the  Protestant  Reformation  was  twofold, 
and  may  be  summed  up  in  the  words  mysticism  and  humanism. — 
J.  G.  Robertson,  Outlines  of  the  History  of  German  Literature, 
p.  67. 


148  Modern  Punctuation 

The  lightest  style,  roman  open  without  capital,  is  depend- 
ent on  the  context.  So  also,  though  in  less  degree,  is  the 
roman  open  style  with  capital,  as  in  the  sentence  from  Mr. 
Bailey.  The  choice  of  style  is  a  matter  of  taste  and  of  cir- 
cumstances. In  books  about  words,  for  example,  the  italic 
style  is  convenient. 

LITERARY  TITLES 

In  the  designation  of  literary  titles  a  distinction  is  some- 
times made  between  the  names  of  books  and  on  the  other 
hand  titles  of  lectures,  unpublished  works,  sections,  chap- 
ters, magazine  articles,  and  short  poems.  In  the  nature  of 
the  case  this  distinction  is  sometimes  difficult  to  make.  For 
one  thing,  " short"  is  indefinite. 

Some  titles  need  not  be  designated  by  either  quotes  or 
italic,  whatever  style  is  used  for  other  titles.  It  is  not 
good  form  to  quote  or  italicize  the  names  Bible  or  Psalms, 
and  there  is  no  need  to  designate  by  anything  more  than 
capitals  such  titles  as  the  Gettysburg  Address,  the  Iliad, 
the  New  English  Dictionary,  the  Oxford  English  Texts, 
the  Introduction,  the  Preface,  or  chapter  names  in  a  series 
of  more  than  three  or  four.  As  Mr.  De  Vinne  has  pointed 
out,  capitalization  is  enough  to  make  the  titles  distinct  with- 
out the  aid  of  quote  marks,  and  without  their  awkwardness. 
Of  the  following  styles  the  second  is  in  agreement  with  his 
recommendation : 

The  chapters  are  as  follows :  "Some  Words  to  Professor  Whirl- 
wind," "The  Protestant  Hero,"  "The  Enigma  of  Waterloo,"  "The 
Coming  of  the  Janissaries,"  "The  Lost  England,"  "Hamlet  and 
the  Danes,"  "The  Midnight  of  Europe,"  "The  Wron?  Horse," 
"The  Awakening  of  England,"  and  "The  Battle  of  the  Marne." 

The  chapters  are  as  follows :  Some  Words  to  Professor  Whirl- 
wind, The  Protestant  Hero,  The  Enigma  of  Waterloo,  The  Com- 


Title  Styles  149 

ing  of  the  Janissaries,  The  Lost  England,  Hamlet  and  the  Danes, 
The  Midnight  of  Europe,  The  Wrong  Horse,  The  Awakening 
of  England,  and  The  Battle  of  the  Marne. 

Mr.  De  Vinne's  opinion  is  significant  as  being  that  of 
a  conservative  and  practical  printer  who  was  also  a  man 
of  learning.  His  chapter  on  quotation  marks  in  Correct 
Composition  (pp.  209-229)  is  of  great  value,  and  not  to 
printers  alone. 

When  writing  for  publication,  one  may  save  bad  effects  by 
composing  with  reference  to  the  styles  of  the  publisher. 
The  following  sentences  are  clumsy  because  italic  type  in 
the  one  case  and  quotes  in  the  other  are  used  for  two  pur- 
poses in  each  case. 

The  expressions  our  mutual  friend  and  the  two  first  receive 
mention  in  The  Standard  of  Usage  in  English  Speech. 

For  the  terms  "suppression  of  clauses,"  "decrease  of  predi- 
cation," and  "weight  of  styles"  see  Mr.  L.  A.  Sherman's  "Ana- 
lytics of  Literature." 

Where  one  may  choose  freely  among  the  different  title 
styles,  the  consideration  of  economy  both  of  time  and  money 
is  in  favor  of  the  open  style,  the  quote  style  being  second 
best.  This  is  true  of  both  typography  and  typewriting. 
The  open  style  appears  to  be  growing  in  favor. 

Whether  to  include  the  articles  (the,  an,  a)  in  quoted 
or  italicized  titles  is  in  part  a  matter  of  taste.  The  works 
with  the  full  titles  A  History  of  American  Literature  and 
The  Social  Contract  may  be  cited  in  either  quote  or  italic 
style  with  the  articles  omitted  altogether.  If  the  precise 
form  of  the  title  matters,  the  article  should  be  included. 

For  an  account  of  the  Knickerbocker  writers,  see  chapter  III 
of  Mr.  W.  B.  Cairns's  History  of  American  Literature. 

Rousseau's  Social  Contract  was  profoundly  influential  through- 
out Europe. 


150  Modern  Punctuation 

To  write  "Rousseau's  The  Social  Contract  was  profoundly 
influential"  would  be  unnecessarily  clumsy. 

In  case  the  article  is  expressed,  it  may  be  included  within 
the  italic  or  quotes  if  exact  citation  is  necessary,  but  often 
need  not  be.  One  may  properly  write  "the  publication  of 
the  Social  Contract  in  1762"  or  "the  moderate  views  that 
Montesquieu  expressed  in  the  Spirit  of  the  Laws."  To 
italicize  or  quote  the  article  often  gives  it  unnecessary 
weight. 

When  book  titles  are  written  roman  open,  the  initial 
article  is  capitalized  if  exact  citation  is  desirable,  but  other- 
wise need  not  be.  When  titles  of  periodicals  are  cited 
the  article  the  is  customarily  left  outside  the  boundaries 
of  the  italicized  or  quoted  groups.  If  the  roman  open  style 
is  used,  the  article  need  not  take  a  capital. 

I  saw  it  in  the  Sun. 

The  essay  originally  appeared  in  the  "Unpopular  Review." 
Mr.  Irvin  Cobb's  "Wanted:  a  Foolproof  War"  was  written  for 
the  Saturday  Evening  Post. 

There  are  exceptions  as  a  matter  of  course.  Lord  North- 
cliffe's  most  important  newspaper  prefers  to  be  known 
as  The  Times  or  "The  Times" ;  and  a  Philadelphia  periodi- 
cal refers  to  itself  in  its  own  columns  as  THE  SATURDAY 
EVENING  POST.  The  New  York  Globe  writes  "the  New 
Republic  is  a  poor  prophet,"  but  "Readers  of  The  Globe 
will  confer  a  favor  if,  etc." 


SECONDARY  QUOTATIONS 

Where  double  quotes  are  the  ordinary  marks,  as  in  most 
American-printed  works,  a  secondary  quotation  (one  ex- 
tract within  another)  is  enclosed  in  single  quotes.  But 
if  the  single  marks  are  used  for  primary  quotations,  as  in 


Quotation  urithin  Quotation  151 

the  Atlantic  Monthly,  secondary  quotations  are  enclosed 
in  double  quotes.  A  tertiary  quotation,  if  the  writer  is 
ingenious  enough  to  make  use  of  such  a  thing  and  if  he  can 
count  on  his  reader  to  thread  the  labyrinth,  will  be  enclosed 
in  the  marks  used  for  primary  quotations. 

Mr.  Crothers  says  of  them:  "They  disputed  with  one  another 
for  the  sheer  joy  of  intellectual  conflict.  The  disputations  sharp- 
ened their  wits,  but  they  'got  no  results/  " 

"The  orator  then  proceeded:  'The  dictionary  tells  us  that 
"the  words,  'freedom'  and  'liberty/  though  often  interchanged, 
are  distinct  in  some  of  their  applications." '  —Example  given 
by  the  Manual  of  Style  of  the  University  of  Chicago  Press. 

The  first  passage  has  an  ordinary  quotation  within  a  quota- 
tion. The  second  illustrates  a  case  which  printers  have  now 
and  then  to  handle,  though  hardly  for  their  own  pleasure. 
If  a  secondary  quotation  occurs  within  a  reduced-type 
extract  not  enclosed  in  quotes,  primary  quote  marks  are 
used. 

The  cry  for  "sustained  effort,"  later  ridiculed  by  Poe,  probably 
came  from  the  feeling  that  nothing  but  writings  on  a  great  scale 
could  adequately  represent  a  great  country. — W.  B.  Cairns, 
History  of  American  Literature,  p.  159. 


THE  REPETITION  OF  QUOTE  MARKS 

In  a  continuous  extract  of  two  or  more  paragraphs  with 
which  quote  marks  are  used,  it  is  customary  to  repeat  the 
marks  at  the  beginning  of  each  paragraph  and  at  the  end 
of  the  last. 

The  emphatic  fashion  of  using  quote  marks  at  the  begin- 
ning of  each  line  of  a  run-in  extract  is  no  longer  common 
in  books,  though  used  by  some  newspapers. 


152  Modern  Punctuation 

The  Kaiser  means  that  it  shall  stick  uncomfortably  in  the 
French  memory,  and  that  when  his  next  peace  offer  comes  France 
will  still  remember  it.  There  is  also  a  threat  in  it:  "If  you 
"reject  my  next  peace  offer  as  you  did  that  of  1916,  the  same 
"thing  that  befell  the  Marne  region  will  befall  other  regions." 
The  Kaiser  is  sowing  seed. — New  York  Times,  June  6,  1918. 


POINTS  BEFORE  QUOTATIONS 

A  dependent  quotation  may  be  preceded  by  any  one  of 
several  structural  points,  or  may  be  treated  as  an  open  sen- 
tence element.  The  popular  supposition  that  a  quotation 
must  be  preceded  by  a  comma  or  other  mark  is  an  error 
inducing  a  waste  of  commas.  In  the  following  case  pointing 
before  the  quotation  is  unnecessary : 

Now  and  then  one  meets  a  man  who  violently  objects  to  being 
placed  and  classified.  He  takes  pride  in  saying  "I  am  not  an 
'ist'  nor  an  'ite'  and  I  subscribe  to  no  'ism/  " — Stuart  P.  Sher- 
man, On  Contemporary  Literature,  p.  6. 

If  sentence  quotations  may  be  so  treated,  the  case  is  yet 
clearer  when  the  expression  is  a  mere  book  title  or  subordi- 
nate clause. 

Others  agree  more  nearly  with  Thomas  Wentworth  Higgin- 
BOD,  who  says  that  he  [Whitman]  seemed,  in  Earner's  phrase,  a 
"dandy  roustabout,"  and  gave  the  impression  "not  so  much  of 
manliness  as  of  Boweriness." — W.  B.  Cairns,  History  of  Amer- 
ican Literature,  p.  389. 

Throughout  his  works  we  find  him  constantly  urging  "activity, 
activity,  activity  and  common  sense." — North  American  Review 
(editorial),  May,  1918. 

There  seems  a  world  of  truth  in  Pascal's  words  that  "reason 
makes  her  friends  only  miserable." — P.  M.  Buck,  Jr.,  Social 
Forces  in  Modern  Literature,  p.  26. 


Points  before  Quotations  153 

A  sentence  quotation  serving  as  the  direct  object  of  a 
verb  may  or  may  not  be  preceded  by  a  point.  A  quotation 
felt  as  an  object  may  be  grouped  with  the  verb ;  a  quotation 
felt  as  being  introduced  is  usually  set  off  by  a  preceding 
comma  or  colon. 

A  year  later,  at  Bremen,  he  said,  "We,  the  Hohenzollerns, 
regard  ourselves  as  appointed  by  God  to  govern  and  lead  the  peo- 
ple whom  it  is  given  us  to  rule." — David  Jayne  Hill,  in  Harper's 
Monthly  Magazine,  July,  1918. 

Even  the  [British]  journalists  were  not  neglected,  and  in  a 
speech  to  them  the  Kaiser  said:  "We  belong  to  the  same  race 
and  to  the  same  religion.  These  are  bonds  which  ought  to  be 
strong  enough  to  maintain  harmony  and  friendship  between  us." 
— Ib. 

As  an  appositive  point,  the  dash  sometimes  replaces  the 
colon  after  words  introducing  a  quotation.  It  is  more  in 
character  when  the  quotation  is  introduced  unexpectedly. 

And  all  the  while  the  pretty  young  Americans  (why  do  their 
fathers  and  mothers  let  them  come  over  here?)  watched  the  battle 
with  exactly  the  same  happy  excitement  that  I  have  seen  on  their 
faces  at  a  football  game;  they  were  all  ready  to  turn  down  their 
pink  thumbs  for  a  German  aviator,  only — "Which  are  the  Ger- 
mans?" one  said,  distractedly. — Margaret  Deland,  in  Harper's 
Monthly  Magazine,  July,  1918. 

Choice  between  the  comma  and  colon  before  a  quotation 
is  determined  in  part  by  the  character  of  the  introduction 
and  the  length  of  the  quotation,  in  part  by  considerations 
of  emphasis.  Before  a  long  quotation  formally  introduced, 
the  colon  is  usually  appropriate.  Before  a  short  quotation 
without  formal  heralding,  the  comma  is  usually  better.  But 
for  special  emphasis  the  colon  may  precede  a  short  quota- 
tion, however  light  the  introduction.  A  rule  specifying 


154  Modern  Punctuation 

choice  according  to  the  mere  length  of  the  quotation  is 
arbitrary. 

The  colon  with  dash  before  a  quotation  is  a  variant  of  the 
colon.  The  combination  is  habitually  used  by  some  book- 
publishers  and  even  some  newspapers  when  the  quotation 
is  separately  paragraphed,  seldom  before  a  run-in  quota- 
tion. According  to  the  weight  of  authority  among  printers, 
the  dash  is  unnecessary. 

The  semicolon  is  never  properly  used  to  introduce  a 
quotation,  though  it  may  happen  to  precede  a  quoted  group. 

Instead  of  being  dependent  and  suspended,  a  quotation 
may  begin  as  an  independent  sentence  even  when  intro- 
duced by  previous  words.  The  colon,  the  dash,  and  the 
comma  are  suspensive;  the  period  is  suspensive  only  in 
slight  degree. 

He  [Montesquieu]  thus  speaks  of  his  experiences,  and  there 
is  a  germ  of  satire  underlying  the  humor:  "In  France  I  make 
friends  with  everybody;  in  England  with  nobody;  in  Italy  I  make 
compliments  to  every  one;  in  Germany  I  drink  with  every  one." 
His  appreciation  of  the  wealthy  people  of  his  time  is  a  little  grim : 
"God  shows  his  opinion  of  wealth  by  the  kind  of  people  he  gives 
it  to." — P.  M.  Buck,  Jr.,  Social  Forces  in  Modern  Literature,  p.  37. 

In  such  a  State  law  is  no  law,  for  every  day  may  see  a  repeal 
of  all  past  acts  and  a  committing  of  the  State  to  untried  novelty. 
"The  natural  place  of  virtue  is  near  to  liberty ;  but  it  is  not  nearer 
to  excessive  liberty  than  to  servitude." — Ib.,  p.  46. 


THE  INTERRUPTION  AND  RESUMPTION  OF  QUOTATIONS 

Where  a  quotation  is  interrupted  by  original  matter,  the 
boundary  is  usually  marked  with  a  comma,  unless  the 
quotation  ends  with  a  question  or  exclamation  mark  or  with 
a  dash.  The  quotation  may  be  resumed  after  a  comma  or 
other  point,  in  the  same  sentence  or  after  a  sentence  point. 


Broken  Quotations  155 

"But  is  it  a  good  business?"  they  asked. 

"Good?  I  should  say  so!"  replied  the  enthusiastic  youngster. 
"It  is  the  most  fascinating  thing  in  the  wide  world.  .  .  .  Why — " 
— R.  S.  Yard,  The  Publisher,  p.  3f. 

"Oh — "  murmured  Mrs.  Leveret,  now  feeling  herself  hopelessly 
astray. — Edith  Wharton,  Xingu,  p.  9. 

"I  suppose  she  flattered  him,"  Miss  Van  Vluyck  summed  up — 
"or  else  it's  the  way  she  does  her  hair." — Ib.,  p.  5. 

Of  the  following  examples,  the  first  two  are  ordinary 
cases  with  the  comma.  The  third  has  a  quotation  break 
which  requires  no  pointing. 

"As  a  matter  of  fact,"  I  asked,  "do  you  have  many  patients  who 
come  to  be  cured  of  their  intolerance?" — S.  M.  Crothers,  The 
Pleasures  of  an  Absentee  Landlord,  p.  147. 

"Royalties  exceeding  ten  per  cent  are  immoral,"  Henry  Holt 
is  reported  to  have  said. — R.  S.  Yard,  The  Publisher,  p.  29. 

"Everybody  reads  the  papers — nobody  believes  them"  a  cynic 
wrote,  most  untruthfully,  for  the  reader  can  do  little  else  than 
believe  the  paper  if  he  is  to  believe  anything. — D.  C.  Seitz, 
Training  for  the  Newspaper  Trade,  p.  82f. 

Though  most  often  resumed  after  a  comma,  an  inter- 
rupted quotation  may  be  resumed  after  a  semicolon  or  other 
interior  point,  or  after  a  sentence  break,  which  may  also 
be  a  paragraph  break. 

"Quite,"  answered  Mr.  Boomer;  "especially  of  late  years  one 
feels  that,  all  said  and  done,  we  are  in  the  hands  of  a  Higher 
Power,  and  that  the  State  Legislature  is  after  all  supreme."- 
Stephen  Leacock,  Moonbeams  from  the  Larger  Lunacy,  p.  76. 

"...  Often  as  I  stand  here  beside  the  window  and  see  these 
cars  go  by"- — he  indicated  a  passing  street  car — "I  cannot  but 
realise  that  the  time  will  come  when  I  am  no  longer  a  managing 
director  and  wonder  whether  they  will  keep  on  trying  to 
hold  the  dividend  down  by  improving  the  rolling  stock  or  will 


156  Modern  Punctuation 

declare  profits  to  inflate  the  securities.    These  mysteries  beyond 
the  grave  fascinate  me,  sir.  .   .   . "  — Ib.t  p.  75f . 

Resumption  after  a  full  stop  is  not  uncommon.  In  the 
first  quotation  above  from  Mr.  Leacock  the  period  might 
replace  the  semicolon,  of  course  with  the  effect  of  giving 
sentence  rank  to  the  preceding  words. 


QUOTES  IN  COMBINATION  WITH  OTHER  MARKS 

Where  an  end  quote  and  another  mark  occur  together, 
the  usual  American  rules  of  order  are  as  follows: 

1.  The  comma  precedes  the  quote  mark. 

2.  The  period  precedes  the  quote  mark. 

3.  The  interrogation  or  exclamation  mark  precedes  the 
quote  if  required  in  order  to  give  the  extract  interrogative 
or  exclamatory  character.    Otherwise  the  quote  mark  pre- 
cedes. 

Their  first  principle  is  that  nothing  which  is  older  than  ten 
or  fifteen  years  can  be  allowed  to  count.  Otherwise,  how  could 
their  criticism  be  "new"? — New  York  Evening  Post,  April  1, 
1918. 

But  in  what  imaginable  circumstances  can  you  say:  "Yes, 
this  idea  is  fine,  but  the  style  is  not  fine"? — Arnold  Bennett, 
Literary  Taste,  p.  46. 

The  two  examples  are  questions  about  quoted  expressions. 
The  sentence  following  contains  a  quoted  question: 

"Has  the  bark  of  human  civilization  sailed  so  swiftly  and  pros- 
perously without  a  steersman?"  he  asks. — F.  M.  Colby,  Imagi- 
nary Obligations,  p.  210. 

The  first  of  the  following  passages  contains  a  quoted 
exclamation,  the  second  is  an  exclamation  regarding  a 
quoted  expression: 


Points  with  End  Quotes  157 

Joe  came  in  after  hours  one  night  and  was  greeted  by  the  guard 
in  the  usual  manner:  "Halt!  Advance  and  be  recognized!"  In 
answer  to  the  question,  "What's  your  name?"  Joe  replied,  "Ah, 
you  no  guess  it  in  a  thousand  years." — F.  H.  Rindge,  Jr.,  in 
Harper's  Monthly  Magazine,  July,  1918. 

What  wonderful  soldiers  they  will  make  if — and  the  Y.  M.  C.  A. 
is  knocking  out  the  "if" !— Ib. 

4.  The  colon  or  semicolon  follows  the  quote  mark  unless 
a  part  of  the  quotation.     But  according  to  some  printers, 
the  semicolon  should  be  included  within  the  quote  when- 
ever  the    extract   is   in    clause    form    with    subject   and 
predicate. 

In  the  following  sentence  the  quotation  has  no  claim  on 
the  semicolon,  the  point  belonging  to  the  sentence  as  a 
whole : 

He  [Henry  James]  had  played  in  his  childhood  with  books 
rather  than  boys;  he  had  been  kept  away  from  his  natural  play- 
mates because  of  their  "shocking  bad  manners";  he  had  never 
mingled  with  men  in  a  business  or  a  professional  way;  he  had 
never  married;  he  stood  aloof  from  life  and  observed  it  without 
being  a  part  of  it. — Fred  Lewis  Pattee,  American  Literature 
since  1870,  p.  192. 

5.  Ellipsis  periods  or  asterisks  marking  an  omission  from 
an  extract  precede  the  quote  mark.     Otherwise  they  fail  to 
indicate  that  there  is  an  omission.     Of  course  the  absence 
of  ellipsis  points  does  not  imply  that  the  extract  is  a 
complete  document,  such  points  being  required  only  when 
there  is  need  to  call  attention  to  the  incompleteness  of  the 
extract.     If  the  rule  of  the  University  of  Chicago  Press 
regarding   reference   marks   were   quoted   in   abbreviated 
form,  it  would  be  proper  to  mark  the  omission  at  the  end: 

"For  reference  indexes,  as  a  rule,  use  superior  figures. 
Only  in  special  cases  should  asterisks,  daggers,  etc.,  be  em- 
ployed. .  :  ."—Manual  of  Style  (fifth  edition),  sec.  232. 


158  Modern  Punctuation 

6.  An  interruption  dash  belonging  to  a  quotation  pre- 
cedes the  quote.    A  dash  marking  the  end  of  an  appositive 
quoted   phrase,    or  belonging  in   any   other   way   to   the 
original  rather  than  the  quoted  part,  follows  the  quote 
mark. 

You  have  said  to  yourself  in  moments  of  emotion,  "If  only  I 
could  write ,"  etc. — Arnold  Bennett,  Literary  Taste,  p.  46. 

"I  don't  think  your  preferences  will  be  consulted.  But  it 
does  seem" — her  face  fell  into  painful  lines  of  sincerity — "it 
really  does  seem  that  the  sooner  the  smash  of  the  whole  darned 
thing  comes  the  better.  It  isn't  any  easier  to  pull  a  tooth  by 
degrees." 

(I  may  say  that  this  thoughtful  woman  is  a  doctor,  so 
her  illustrations  are  natural  enough.) — Margaret  Deland,  in 
Harper's  Monthly  Magazine,  July,  1918. 

7.  Suspension   periods    (periods  not  marking  ellipsis) 
will  serve  their  purpose  clearly  at  the  end  of  a  quota- 
tion only  if  placed  after  the  quote  mark.     Preceding  it, 
they  appear  to  be  ellipsis  marks.     But  since  suspension 
periods  are  authors'  marks  not  inserted  by  printers  even  in 
deficient  copy,  they  have  not  been  reduced  to  uniform 
office  practice. 

8.  The  quote  mark  at  the  end  of  a  quoted  expression 
in  curves  or  brackets  precedes  the  parenthetical  point. 

In  1820  the  death  of  Brown  and  resignation  of  Stewart 
vacated  the  chair  of  Moral  Philosophy ;  but  the  electors  preferred 
to  Hamilton  his  friend  and  fellow-Oxonian  Wilson  ("Chris- 
topher North"),  mentioned  earlier  in  this  volume  as  a  literary 
man.  .  .  . — T.  S.  Omond,  The  Romantic  Triumph,  p.  172. 

9.  The  apostrophe  precedes  the  quote  mark. 

These  rules,  with  one  exception  noted  below,  are  usually 
followed  by  a  majority  of  the  more  careful  American  print- 


Single-Quote  Styles  159 

ers.  As  for  the  rule  that  the  comma  or  period  shall  precede 
the  end  quote,  the  University  of  Chicago  Press  makes  no 
exceptions,  though  its  rules  in  general  are  not  specified  for 
rigid  application. 

The  rules  for  end  quotes  in  combination  with  other 
points  apply  generally  to  both  the  single  and  double  marks ; 
but  according  to  the  style  book  of  the  Columbia  University 
Printing  Office,  which  follows  the  rule  of  the  Clarendon 
Press,  the  order  of  single  quote  with  comma  or  period 
"should  be  determined  by  the  sense  of  the  passage."  The 
following  example  is  given  in  illustration  of  one  case: 

There  are  found  in  the  census  reports  such  odd-sounding 
designations  as  'scribbling  miller',  'devil  feeder*,  'pug  boy',  and 
'decomposing  man'. 

For  a  primary  sentence-quotation  enclosed  in  single 
quotes,  the  Clarendon  Press  style  is  as  follows,  the  example 
being  given  in  the  Rules  for  Compositors  and  Readers 
followed  at  the  University  Press,  Oxford: 

'At  the  root  of  the  disorders',  he  writes  in  the  Report,  'lies 
the  conflict  of  the  two  races.' 

But  the  same  sentence  set  according  to  the  Atlantic 
Monthly  style  would  be  pointed  thus: 

'At  the  root  of  the  disorders,'  he  writes  in  the  Report,  'lies 
the  conflict  of  the  two  races.' 

There  are  many  exceptions  to  the  customary  American 
rules  of  order,  either  intended  or  accidental;  but  those 
who  let  the  quote  mark  always  follow  comma  or  period 
are  with  the  American  majority. 


160  Modern  Punctuation 

Where  double  and  single  quotes  appear  together,  with  a 
comma  or  other  point,  the  customary  orders  are  as  follows : 

With  the  period,  the  usual  order  is  period,  secondary 
quote,  primary  quote.  In  ordinary  American  practice 
that  means  period,  then  single  quote,  then  double  quote. 

He  ordinarily  says,  'To-morrow  is  Sunday' — that  is,  he  says 
so  if  he  uses  the  language  as  if  it  belonged  to  him  and  not  as  if 
he  belonged  to  it.  If  he  chance  to  be  in  the  company  of  one  who 
is  in  the  latter  unhappy  situation,  he  is  not  unlikely  to  be  inter- 
rupted by  some  such  remark  as  this,  "Pardon  me,  you  should 
say,  'To-morrow  will  be  Sunday/  " — Thomas  R.  Lounsbury,  The 
Standard  of  Usage  in  English,  p.  167. 

With  the  question  or  exclamation  mark  or  with  suspen- 
sion periods,  the  order  is  according  to  circumstances. 

"And  what  do  you  think  of  'The  Wings  of  Death'?"  Mrs. 
Rqby  abruptly  asked  her. — Edith  Wharton,  Xingu,  p.  10. 
One  captain  told  me  this  as  a  joke  on  himself: 
"...   After  I  had  completed  what  I  thought  was  a  rather 
impressive  speech  one  of  the  non-commissioned  officers  saluted 
and  said,  'Excuse  me,  Captain,  but  that  man  doesn't  understand 
a    word    you're    saying !' " — F.    H.    Rindge,    Jr.,    in    Harper's 
Monthly  Magazine,  July,  1918. 

CAPITAL  OR  LOWER-CASE  WITH  QUOTATIONS 

There  is  an  obstinate  popular  superstition  that  quota- 
tions, save  only  short  phrases,  must  begin  with  capitals. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  even  quotations  with  subject  and 
predicate  may  begin  with  lower-case. 

It  is— or  shall  I  write,  "it  may  be"?— H.  G.  Wells,  What  Is 
Coming?  (p.  81). 

For  "the  truth  is  that  the  spectators  are  always  in  their 
senses,  and  know,  from  the  first  act  to  the  last,  that  the  stage 


Initial  Lower-Case  161 

is  only  a  stage  and  the  players  only  players":  "the  delight  pro- 
ceeds from  our  consciousness  of  fiction:  if  we  thought  murders 
and  treasons  real  they  would  please  us  no  more." — John  Bailey, 
Dr.  Johnson  and  His  Circle,  p.  213. 

The  principal  cases  in  which  a  quoted  sentence  may  begin 
with  a  small  letter  are: 

1.  When  quotations  are  in  series,  as  in  the  example 
just  cited,  or  in  the  following  from  page  202  of  the  same 
book: 

Or  take  such  sentences  as  that  embodying  the  favourite  John- 
sonian and  Socratic  distinction :  "to  man  is  permitted  the  contem- 
plation of  the  skies,  but  the  practice  of  virtue  is  commanded"; 
...  or  such  sayings  as,  "the  truth  is  that  no  mind  is  much 
employed  upon  the  present:  recollection  and  anticipation  fill  up 
almost  all  our  moments";  "marriage  has  many  pains  but  celibacy 
has  no  pleasures";  "envy  is  almost  the  only  vice  which  is  practi- 
cable at  all  times  and  in  every  place";  ...  or,  last  of  all,  to 
bring  citation  to  an  end,  that  characteristic  saying  about  the 
omnipresence  of  the  temptations  of  idleness:  "to  do  nothing  is 
in  every  man's  power:  we  never  want  an  opportunity  of  omit- 
ting duties." 

2.  When  the  quotation  is  informally  treated  as  if  an 
ordinary  sentence  element.     Quotations  introduced  by  such 
a  formula  as  in  the  following  words  usually  begin  with 
capitals. 

It  has  been  wittily  said  of  the  insular  Briton  that  "every  Eng- 
lishman is  an  island."  Mr.  Justice  Darling  retorted  that  "every 
American  is  a,  continent." — Sir  Martin  Conway,  The  Crowd  in 
Peace  and  War,  p.  6. 

Secretary  Lane  proposes  one  immediate  way  of  getting  busy — 
that  is,  support  of  the  bill  now  introduced  into  the  House  "which 
provides  for  a  modest  appropriation  for  the  Bureau  of  Educa- 


162  Modern  Punctuation 

tion  to  begin  and  conduct  a  vigorous  and  systematic  campaign 
for  the  eradication  of  adult  illiteracy." — The  Outlook,  April  10, 
1918. 

To  quote  a  writer  in  the  Independent,  "the  week  marked  an 
awakening  of  a  professional  consciousness  on  the  part  of  Kansas 
newspaper  men." — Merle  Thorpe,  The  Coming  Newspaper  (Fore- 
word). 

But  in  the  following  case  the  length  and  character  of 
the  quotation  obviously  suggest  an  initial  capital : 

Of  Rose,  the  murderess,  in  The  Other  House,  he  says  the  most 
exquisite  things — "She  carries  the  years  almost  as  you  do,  and 
her  head  better  than  any  young  woman  I've  ever  seen.  Life  is 
somehow  becoming  to  her." — Stuart  P.  Sherman,  On  Contempo- 
rary Literature,  p.  254. 

INTERPOLATION  AND  ELLIPSIS 

Expressions  interpolated  in  quoted  matter  are  custo- 
marily enclosed  in  brackets.  Sometimes  they  are  enclosed 
in  curves,  especially  the  unflattering  commentary  sic.  But 
brackets  are  safer  because  unmistakable  marks  of  inter- 
polation. 

Even  the  interpolation  of  a  question  or  exclamation 
mark  by  way  of  commentary  ought  to  be  indicated,  the 
interpolated  point  being  otherwise  misleading. 

For  ellipsis  within  a  quoted  paragraph  the  customary 
sign  is  a  tfroup  of  spaced  periods,  less  often  asterisks,  in 
addition  to  any  point  required  at  the  place  where  the 
ellipsis  begins.  The  number  of  periods  or  asterisks  is 
usually  three.  The  following  passage  illustrates  the  use  of 
both  brackets  and  ellipsis  marks: 

So,  in  the  beginning,  all  American  newspapers,  now  more  nu- 
merous, were  exultant.  "Liberty  will  have  another  feather  in 


Brackets  and  Ellipses  163 

her  cap.  .  .  .  The  ensuing  winter  [1789]  will  be  the  commence- 
ment of  a  Golden  Age,"  was  the  glowing  prophecy  of  an  en- 
thusiastic Boston  journal. — A.  J.  Beveridge,  Life  of  John  Mar- 
shall, vol.  II,  p.  5. 

For  an  ellipsis  of  a  paragraph  or  more,  it  is  customary 
to  use  a  full  line  of  spaced  periods;  less  often  a  full  line 
of  asterisks.  Rules  for  the  indication  of  ellipsis  vary  con- 
siderably from  office  to  office. 

Ellipsis  marks  are  treated  as  part  of  the  quotation  and 
accordingly  are  enclosed  within  the  quote  marks.  The  ab- 
breviation etc.  indicating  an  ellipsis  should  be  grouped 
with  the  citation.  Otherwise  it  appears  to  stand  for  some- 
thing the  writer  has  decided  not  to  say.  If  the  rule  of  the 
University  of  Chicago  Press  were  quoted  with  the  latter 
part  omitted,  the  citation  should  be  in  this  form : 

"Quotation  marks  should  always  include  ellipses,  and  the  phrase 
'etc.'  when  it  otherwise  would  not  be  clear  that  it  stands  for  an 
omitted  part  of  the  matter  quoted.  ..." 

If  the  title  of  the  style  book  used  by  the  Columbia  Univer- 
sity Printing  Office  were  given  within  quotes  in  abbreviated 
form,  it  might  read  "  Style  Book  of  Typographical  Practice 
at  the  University  Printing  Office,  etc." 

Both  brackets  and  ellipsis  marks  should  be  used  with 
care.  If  badly  placed  they  effect  awkward  grouping  and 
so  misrepresent  the  quoted  matter. 

Ugly  thoughts  and  doubts  will  arise;  and  the  earth  ...  to 
the  mature  man  or  woman  seldom  remains  a  place  of  simple  joy 
and  gladness,  but  the  home  rather  of  ...  misery. 

There  was  lacking  in  [Rousseau]  the  control  of  a  well-bal- 
anced intellect,  which  might  have  controlled  his  capricious  and 
extravagant  emotions. 


164  Modern  Punctuation 

The  ellipses  in  the  first  sentence  and  the  bracketed  substitu- 
tion in  the  second  occur  at  awkward  places. 

Where  part  of  a  sentence  is  left  out,  the  remainder  may 
be  united  into  one  sentence  with  following  matter;  not 
necessarily  with  the  next  sentence,  ellipsis  marks  being  in- 
definite as  to  the  extent  of  the  omission. 

In  any  case  the  borrower  should  see  that  the  abbreviated 
quotation  is  a  true  representation  of  the  meaning.  Quota- 
tion-garbling is  inexcusable. 

In  cases  which  do  not  call  for  the  apostrophe,  ellipsis 
from  a  word  is  usually  managed  with  the  ellipsis  dash. 
Where  a  proper  name,  for  instance  Patterson,  should  be 
abbreviated  or  suppressed,  the  name  may  be  written  P — 

or  P ?i,  or  may  be  represented  simply  by  a  dash.    The 

length  of  the  ellipsis  dash  is  according  to  office  rules,  the 
two-em  length  being  common. 

II.   A  NOTE  ON  CAPITALS  AND  ITALIC,    (a)  CAPITALIZATION 

Capitalization  is  controlled  in  large  part  by  conventions 
varying  from  office  to  office.  Some  publishers  prefer  a 
' '  down ' '  style  with  few  capitals.  Others  use  capitals  neces- 
sary to  nothing  in  the  world  except  their  conservative  office 
customs.  The  purpose  of  this  section  is  merely  to  point  out 
some  uses  of  capitalization,  with  some  of  its  dangers. 

1.  Capitals  properly  used  are  an  aid  to  clearness.  The 
initial  sentence  capital  or  capital  at  the  beginning  of  a 
quoted  expression  is  a  grouping  signal.  In  the  case  of 
single  words  a  capital  may  contribute  to  clearness  by  show- 
ing, for  example,  that  Revolution  refers  to  a  particular 
revolution,  or  that  College  has  specific  reference,  the  meaning 
in  such  a  case  depending  on  the  context.  The  expression  a 
Fellow  may  mean  clearly  a  University  Fellow,  whereas 
a  fellow  might  be  misleading. 


Uses  of  Capitalization  165 

The  rule  that  proper  names  and  proper  adjectives  shall 
be  capitalized  is  indefinite  because  many  words  pass  freely 
from  one  class  to  the  other.  The  printing-office  terms 
roman  and  italic  are  sometimes  treated  as  proper  nouns  or 
adjectives ;  president  and  committee  may  become  President 
and  Committee,  eighteenth  century  can  be  set  Eighteenth 
Century,  nature  can  be  personified  into  Nature,  Satan 
is  alternately  called  devil  and  Devil;  and  such  adjectives 
as  dreiserian  are  occasionally  formed  even  from  the  names 
of  contemporaries.  The  use  of  lower-case  for  such  words 
as  macadamize,  bowdlerize,  gasconade,  romance,  and  jere- 
miad— all  of  them  derived  from  proper  names — is  familiar. 

2.  Capitals  are  used  for  courtesy  or  reverence,  whether 
real  or  satirically  assumed.     Contrary  to  the  usual  Bible- 
typography  practice,  some  prefer  to  use  the  capitalized 
pronouns  He,  His,  and  Him  whenever  the  pronoun  refers 
to  any  person  of  the  Trinity,  whether  a  capital  is  needed 
for  clearness  or  not. 

It  is  customary  to  write  the  President  of  Harvard,  but 
the  janitor  of  Haviland  Hall,  the  capital  for  President 
being  out  of  respect  for  the  higher  office. 

A  reversal  of  the  reverential  capital  appears  in  such  a 
phrase  as  "the  badger  laf ollette, ' '  as  used  in  an  editorial 
by  Mr.  George  Harvey.  The  respectful  use  of  capitals  has 
a  natural  reaction  in  satirical  capitalization,  of  which  the 
classic  exponent  is  Mr.  George  Ade. 

3.  Capitals  are  used  for  emphasis.     Topical  capitals  so- 
called  are  capitals  marking  technical  or  important  terms 
for  special  notice. 

The  three  general  purposes  of  capitalization  are  only 
theoretically  distinct.  The  capitalization  of  Senate  or  of 
a  pronoun  referring  to  God  may  be  for  both  clearness  and 
respect.  Similarly  the  capitalization  of  terms  for  emphasis 
should  contribute  to  clearness.  In  Mr.  Ade's  Fables  in 


166  Modern  Punctuation 

Slang  capitals  are  an  essential  part  of  the  writer's  re- 
sources. 

This  haughty  Harriet  had  put  the  tag  of  Disapproval  on  the 
War,  just  to  prove  that  her  perfumed  Personality  could  not  be 
shifted  by  any  movement  of  the  Common  Herd. 

She  was  one  of  those  Women  that  the  Minute  you  meet  her  you 
have  a  Curiosity  to  get  acquainted  with  her  Husband  and  listen 
to  his  Explanation  of  how  it  happened. 

The  dangers  which  attend  the  unskilful  use  of  capitals 
are  overemphasis,  stiltedness,  exaggerated  respectfulness, 
and  bad  movement.  By  attracting  attention  to  the  words 
or  groups  they  begin,  capitals  often  interfere  with  the 
movement  of  composition. 

(b)    THE  USE  OF  ITALIC 

Italic  type,  indicated  in  printers'  copy  by  single-under- 
lining, are  mostly  auxiliary  to  roman  body  type.  Where 
the  text  of  a  passage  is  in  italic,  the  functions  of  italic  and 
roman  are  reversed.  Italic  and  quotes  are  often  inter- 
changeable, the  use  of  the  one  making  the  other  unneces- 
sary ;  they  are  not  often  used  together.  A  point  which  fol- 
lows an  italicized  expression  is  customarily  italic. 

Italic  type  are  used  in  text  matter  for  the  following 
purposes : 

1.  For  emphasis.     The  use  of  italic  for  this  purpose  is 
sometimes  convenient;   but  too  frequent  italicizing  may 
effect  sensational  or  crude  emphasis,  and  may  give  an  air 
of  pedantry  or  self-satisfaction. 

2.  To  mark  short  foreign  expressions  which  are  still 
felt  to  be  foreign. 

Spelling  and  grammar,  therefore,  became  as  obsolete  as  the 
mediaeval  trivium  and  quadrivium,  and  were  reckoned  among  the 
lost  arts.— A.  S.  Cook,  The  Higher  Study  of  English,  p.  52. 


Italic,  Qiiotes,  Capitals  167 

3.  To  mark  upon  first  mention,  but  not  necessarily  there- 
after, words  as  words,  words  accompanied  I/  commentary 
or  definition,  sometimes  even  letters.     For  this  purpose 
italic  may  be  made  unnecessary  by  the  use  of  quote  marks, 
or  sometimes  of  capitals. 

Evangelical  and  sincere  were  new  words  much  used  by  Protes- 
tants of  their  doctrines;  and  now,  by  their  unfortunate  identifi- 
cation of  the  Hebrew  Sabbath  with  the  Christian  Sunday,  they 
fastened  on  that  day  the  sabbatic  law  of  the  Old  Testament. — 
L.  P.  Smith,  The  English  Language,  p.  195. 

Nor  is  this  introduction  of  the  ^/-element  limited  to  the  letter 
when  used  alone. — Thomas  R.  Lounsbury,  English  Spelling  and 
Spelling  Reform,  p.  130. 

A  word  named  as  a  word  is  sometimes  given  designation 
by  the  context  without  the  use  of  either  italic  or  quotes. 
It  is  permissible  to  write: 

The  term  rhetoric  means  the  art  of  communication. 
The  term  "rhetoric"  means  the  art  of  communication. 
The  term  'rhetoric'  means,  etc. 
The  term  rhetoric  means,  etc. 
The  term  Rhetoric  means,  etc. 

The    considerations   governing    choice    among    styles    are 
clearness,  proper  emphasis,  and  consistency. 

4.  To  designate  the  titles  of  books,  poems,  musical  com- 
positions, and  other  works  of  art.     For  this  purpose  the 
alternative    styles    are    roman    quote    and    roman    open. 
Whatever  style  is  used,  it  is  not  necessary  to  quote  or 
italicize  Old  Testament,  Iliad,  Seventh  of  March  Speech, 
Introduction,  or  Sistine  Madonna. 

5.  According  to  the  styles  of  some  publishers,  for  the 
names  of  ships  and  for  sic,  i.  e.,  e.  g.,  and  some  other  ex- 
pressions. 


168  Modern  Punctuation 

6.  For  special  editorial  purposes.     In  the  most  familiar 
version  of  the  Bible  it  has  been  customary  to  use  italic  for 
words  not  directly  represented  in  the  original. 

7.  Sometimes  for  prefaces,  introductions,  or  other  minor 
parts  of  a  book.     In  such  a  passage  roman  type  may  be 
used  for  emphasis  or  special  designation. 

Save  for  emphasis-italic,  one  may  save  trouble  by  fol- 
lowing a  good  style  book.  The  use  of  italic  for  emphasis  is 
a  matter  of  taste,  the  safe  decision  in  doubtful  cases  being 
against  italicizing. 

III.   ABBREVIATION  AND  ETYMOLOGICAL  POINTING 

The  marks  included  here  are  those,  except  the  dash  and 
quote  marks,  which  designate  a  word  as  being  abbreviated, 
plural  or  genitive,  extemporaneous  or  imperfectly  coalesced, 
or  divided. 

The  name  etymological  pointing  might  be  applied  to  the 
use  of  quotes  for  special  designation  and  of  the  dash  for 
ellipsis;  but  to  save  repetition,  quotes  and  dashes  will  be 
omitted  from  this  section.  Under  these  limitations,  the 
marks  used  for  abbreviation  and  etymological  pointing 
are  (1)  the  period,  (2)  the  division  hyphen,  (3)  the  com- 
pounding hyphen,  (4)  the  apostrophe,  (5)  brackets  or 
curves  enclosing  letters  for  designation  as  doubtful,  wrong, 
or  interpolated.  This  use  of  curves  and  brackets  is  too 
special  or  infrequent  to  require  more  than  mention. 

(a)    The  Abbreviation  Period 

According  to  the  New  English  Dictionary  an  abbreviation 
is  "a  shortened  form  of  a  spoken  word,  or  written  symbol ; 
a  part  of  a  word  or  symbol  standing  for  the  whole."  A 
distinction  between  abbreviation  and  contraction  would 


The  Abbreviation  Point  169 

not  be  useful  for  the  present  purpose  even  if  definite.  Wm. 
for  William  and  advt.  for  advertisement  are  most  con- 
veniently called  abbreviations  although  shortened  by  omis- 
sion within. 

If  Tlios.  stands  for  Thomas,  the  shortened  form  takes  the 
abbreviation  period.  If  Thomas  is  called  Tom  by  his 
friends,  Tom  is  not  an  abbreviation  but  an  alternative  name. 
Nor  is  soph  an  abbreviation  when  used  as  campus  slang, 
though  it  may  properly  appear  as  soph,  in  a  table  of  courses 
in  the  college  catalogue.  A  word  is  not  an  abbreviation 
because  derived  from  a  longer  word,  as  cab  is  derived  from 
cabriolet  or  bus  from  omnibus,  the  derivation  being  relevant 
only  so  far  as  the  longer  form  is  remembered  with  the 
shorter  one.  Where  bus  is  written  'bus  (given  as  an  alter- 
native form  by  the  Concise  Oxford  Dictionary),  the  apos- 
trophe is  a  reminder  of  the  longer  form. 

A  given  form  may  be  set  alternately  as  an  abbreviation 
and  as  a  word.  Per  cent  appears  with  no  period  in  cer- 
tain books  and  newspapers,  with  the  abbreviation  point 
in  other  publications  no  less  carefully  printed.  The  form 
without  the  period  is  obviously  more  economical,  and  is 
justified  by  the  familiarity  of  the  expression.  The  fact 
that  cent  is  short  for  centum  probably  does  not  occur  to 
more  than  one  in  five  of  the  people  who  have  occasion  to 
write  it. 

A  number  in  place  of  a  word,  like  20  for  twenty,  is  not 
an  abbreviation.  It  is  a  symbol  in  figures  instead  of  a 
symbol  in  letters. 

Eoman  ordinals  such  as  XV  in  the  name  Louis  XV  are 
sometimes  treated  as  abbreviations,  but  are  more  often  set 
without  the  abbreviation  point. 

Even  syllables  are  sometimes  treated  as  words,  as  in 
the  following  sentence  from  Mr.  L.  P.  Smith's  English 
Language  (p.  87)  : 


170  Modern  Punctuation 

We  form  adjectives,  too,  in  al,  ous,  ose,  ese,  ary,  able,  etc.; 
verbs  in  fy,  ate,  ize,  and  ish. 

In  like  manner  it  is  quite  permissible  to  use  ism  and 
ite  as  words,  meaning  " creed  or  programme"  and  "adher- 
ent of  a  definite  doctrine  or  policy." 

Since  there  is  no  generally  effective  legislation  in  cases 
on  the  border-line  between  words  and  abbreviations,  the 
obvious  thing  is  to  follow  in  general  the  practice  of  a  single 
style  book  except  where  there  is  good  reason  for  change. 

Whether  words  shall  be  abbreviated  or  not  is  a  question 
of  taste  and  occasion.  The  style  book  of  the  Columbia 
University  Printing  Office  says  in  regard  to  this :  ' '  In  text 
matter  abbreviations  should  be  avoided.  They  are  suitable 
in  detailed,  commercial,  or  technical  matter  but  not  in 
printing  of  a  formal  nature. ' '  In  footnotes,  bibliographies, 
tables,  and  memoranda,  abbreviations  may  be  an  aid  to 
clearness,  besides  being  economical. 

Where  an  abbreviation  is  followed  by  a  colon,  there  is 
good  authority  for  omitting  the  abbreviation  point;  and 
where  an  abbreviation  point  occurs  at  a  break  which  would 
normally  be  marked  by  a  comma,  the  comma  may  sometimes 
be  omitted.  Mr.  De  Vinne  (Correct  Composition,  p.  291) 
gives  the  following  example  of  a  sentence  in  which  the 
comma  would  be  superfluous: 

He  was  there  at  6  p.  m.  but  he  was  too  late. 

(b)    The  Apostrophe 

The  apostrophe  marking  the  genitive,  says  the  New  Eng- 
lish Dictionary,  "originally  marked  merely  the  omission 
of  e  in  writing,  as  in  fox's,  James's,  and  was  equally  com- 
mon in  the  nominative  plural,  especially]  of  proper  names 
and  foreign  words  (as  folio's  =  folioes)  ;  it  was  gradually 
disused  in  the  latter,  and  extended  to  all  possessives, 


Uses  of  the  Apostrophe  171 

even  where  e  had  not  been  previously  written,  as  in  man 's, 
children's,  conscience'  sake.  This  was  not  yet  established 
in  1725."  The  history  of  the  apostrophe  helps  to  explain 
its  use  as  a  sign  of  the  genitive,  of  omissions,  and  some- 
times of  the  plural. 

The  three  uses  of  the  apostrophe  are  as  follows: 

1.  To  indicate,  with  or  without  the  letter  s,  the  genitive 
case  of  nouns,  as  in  Frank's  hat,  the  children's  playthings, 
for  conscience'  sake.     Except  in  a  few  cases   (especially 
with  sake)   the  genitive  singular  is  formed  by  the  addi- 
tion of  the  apostrophe  and  s ;  but  awkwardness  of  pronun- 
ciation suggested  by  an  added  s  may  call  for  such  a  form  as 
Moses'  law  or  Sickles'  Corps. 

The  genitive  plural  is  formed  by  the  addition  of  the 
apostrophe  when  the  nominative  plural  ends  in  s,  otherwise 
by  the  addition  of  apostrophe  and  s,  as  in  women's.  Geni- 
tives of  pronouns  (its,  yours,  theirs)  do  not  take  the  apos- 
trophe. 

2.  To  form  with  s  the  plurals  of  numerals  and  signs, 
of  letters  ("dot  your  i's  and  cross  your  t's"),  of  words 
mentioned  as  words  ("three  very's  in  one  sentence"),  and 
sometimes    of    abbreviations    like    Y.  M.  C.  A.    and    of 
"polysyllabic  proper  names  ending  in  a  sibilant,"  such  as 
Pericles.    But  such  plurals  as  the  Pericles'  and  Socrates' 
of  literature  (a  specimen  given  by  one  of  the  best  current 
manuals)  are  clumsy  forms,  of  course  avoidable  by  manage- 
ment of  wording.     Printing  offices  have  to  handle  such 
expressions  because  unmerciful   authors  sometimes  write 
them. 

There  is  some  latitude  in  the  use  of  the  apostrophe  for 
plurals.  It  is  proper  to  write  the  three  R's  or  the  three 
Rs,  in  tJie  1900' s  or  in  the  1900s,  they  came  by  two's  or 
they  came  by  twos.  The  forms  without  apostrophe  are 
gaining  ground. 


172  Modern  Punctuation 

The  plural  of  a  proper  name  like  Henry  is  not  formed 
with  apostrophe  and  s,  but  by  the  addition  of  s. 

The  Henrys  live  on  Elm  Street. 

Henrys'  (with  apostrophe)  is  the  genitive  plural  of  Henry. 
The  Henrys'  automobile  was  stolen  last  night. 

3.  To  indicate  the  omission  of  one  or  more  letters,  as  in 
wasn't,  sleep  o'  nights,  it's  for  it  is;  often  also  to  indicate 
pronunciation,  as  in  dialect  stories. 

The  elision  apostrophe  is  often  used  unnecessarily.  In 
his  teens  should  not  be  written  in  his  'teens,  because  teens 
is  a  common  noun  standing  for  any  one  of  seven  numbers. 
In  like  manner  it  is  unnecessary,  indeed  illogical,  to  use  an 
apostrophe  in  such  expressions  as  the  seventies  of  the  last 
century. 

In  forms  like  Peterboro'  and  tho'  (for  Peterborough 
and  though)  the  final  apostrophe  is  usually  objectionable 
because  half-hearted.  If  the  abbreviated  forms  are  used, 
it  is  better  in  most  cases  to  use  them  without  apology. 

(c)    The  Division  Hyphen 

Though  the  hyphen  has  only  one  form  in  general  use, 
it  has  two  distinct  functions.  The  division  hyphen  is  used 
for  division  of  words  ordinarily  written  solid,  the  com- 
pounding hyphen  for  the  union  of  expressions  which  have 
not  coalesced  or  which  have  not  been  recognized  as  solid 
orthographical  units. 

In  preparing  copy  for  the  printer  there  is  often  need 
to  differentiate  the  two  kinds  of  hyphens  by  using  a  short 
straight  stroke  for  the  division  mark  and  two  short  up- 
slanting  strokes  for  the  compounding  hyphen,  as  in  the 


The  Division  Hyphen  173 

New  Standard  Dictionary.  If  a  word  like  courthouse  is 
broken  at  the  end  of  a  line  in  manuscript,  the  compositor 
should  be  relieved  of  the  decision  whether  to  set  it  hyphened 
or  solid. 

The  division  hyphen  is  used  for  the  following  purposes : 

1.  At  a  line  break,  to  show  that  the  word  so  divided  is 
normally  a  solid  word,  broken  simply  because  the  line  is 
not  long  enough  to  hold  it. 

According  to  the  American  system,  division  is  mainly  ac- 
cording to  pronunciation,  etymological  lines  being  followed 
so  far  as  the  indication  of  pronunciation  permits.  As  Mr. 
De  Vinne  has  said,  "a  book  is  supposed  to  be  written  for 
the  convenience  of  the  reader,  and  not  to  illustrate  the 
author's  scientific  knowledge  of  the  derivation  and  proper 
dissection  of  w6rds  derived  from  foreign  languages." 

The  meaning  is  most  likely  to  be  clear  when  the  division 
is  on  an  accented  syllable,  as  in  founda-tion,  con-sonant, 
etymol-ogy,  lexicolo-gical;  but  division  on  light  syllables  is 
often  necessary,  especially  in  narrow  measure.  The  divi- 
sion anticipa-tory  is  legitimate  and  may  be  more  convenient 
than  the  division  anti-cipatory. 

It  is  considered  undesirable  in  careful  wide-measure 
printing  to  carry  over  a  short  syllable  like  er,  ed,  or  ing; 
but  words  with  these  endings  often  have  to  be  divided,  as 
sound-ed,  sound-ing,  com-ing,  bold-er,  black-est.  If  a  con- 
sonant is  doubled  before  such  an  ending,  the  second  letter 
of  the  doublet  is  carried  over  with  the  ending :  begin-ning, 
stun-ning,  imbed-ded,  fat-test.  In  t ell-ing  the  preceding 
consonant  is  double,  not  doubled. 

In  general  the  endings  ed  (if  the  e  is  pronounced), 
er,  ing  are  treated  as  separate  syllables,  being  carried 
over  without  a  preceding  consonant  except  when  the  pre- 
ceding consonant  has  been  doubled,  as  in  scan-ning  or 
admit-ted.  But  in  such  words  as  spacing,  changing. 


174  Modern  Punctuation 

cringing,  dancing,  the  rule  for  ing  works  badly.  The 
University  of  Chicago  Press,  a  first-rate  authority,  has  a 
rule  against  ending  a  line  with  a  soft  c  or  g  or  with  a  j. 
It  prefers  not  to  divide  such  words  as  spacing;  where  divi- 
sion is  unavoidable  it  prefers  the  division  spa-cing,  despite 
the  customary  rule.  As  between  spac-ing  and  spa-cing,  or 
between  danc-ing  and  dan-ting,  the  consideration  of  clear- 
ness is  altogether  in  favor  of  the  forms  in  which  the  c  is 
carried  over. 

If  a  word  contains  a  compounding  hyphen,  other  division 
should  if  possible  be  avoided;  a  second  hyphen  in  such  a 
word  as  self-sacrifice  or  extra-hazardous  would  be  objec- 
tionable. 

In  general,  careful  printers  avoid  unnecessary,  frequent, 
and  awkward  divisions,  and  divisions  which  would  mar  the 
appearance  of  the  page.  Any  division  may  be  considered 
awkward  which  misleads  or  annoys  the  reader,  or  amuses 
him  contrary  to  the  writer's  purpose.  Rear-rangement, 
bull-dozing,  prog-eny,  struct-ure,  critic-ism  are  bad  divi- 
sions; and  so  also  are  any  possible  divisions  of  nothing, 
horses,  or  William.  But  in  short  lines  there  may  be  need 
to  divide  Christian  names,  long  figures  like  200,000,  even 
monosyllables  like  killed. 

Details  of  division  may  ordinarily  be  left  to  the  printer, 
if  he  is  a  good  printer;  for  questions  of  division  involve 
questions  of  white  space.  Ideal  division  may  be  less  impor- 
tant than  good  spacing. 

The  trouble  and  expense  of  making  corrections  for  the 
sake  of  better  division  will  often  indicate  a  policy  of  com- 
promise. Mr.  De  Vinne  makes  the  astonishing  statement 
(Correct  Composition,  p.  141)  that  "the  time  wasted  in 
overrunning  and  respacing  lines  to  avoid  divisions  objected 
to  by  proof-reader  and  author  is  a  serious  tax  upon  the  cost 
"f  Composition — not  less  in  the  aggregate  than  one  fifth  the 


The  Compounding  Hyphen  175 

cost  of  type-setting  alone."  Clearness  depends  far  less 
upon  proper  division  of  words  than  upon  the  proper  use  of 
structural  points. 

2.  The  division  hyphen  is  sometimes  used  to  exhibit 
the  syllables  or  letters  of  a  word  for  a  special  purpose. 

The  constituent  elements  are  un-tru-th-ful-ly. 
De-liberate  is  akin  to  liberate. 

The  Author  wises  it  to  be  understood  that  Erewhon  is  pro- 
nounced as  a  word  of  three  syllables,  all  short — thus,  E-re-whon. 
— Samuel  Butler,  Erewhon,  Preface  to  First  Edition. 

The  dieresis  sometimes  competes  with  the  division  hyphen 
in  such  words  as  preeminent  and  cooperate,  which  may  be 
written  with  dieresis  (preeminent,  cooperate),  with  division 
hyphen  (pre-eminent,  co-operate),  or  with  neither.  The 
choice  of  forms  in  such  cases  will  be  according  to  style- 
book  prescription  or  individual  taste.  But  such  a  form  as 
unco-ordinated  should  not  be  admitted  under  any  circum- 
stances. It  looks  like  a  Scots-Latin  hybrid. 

3.  The  hyphen  is  sometimes  used,  especially  by  novelists, 
to  suggest  hesitation  or  stuttering. 

Panky,  hardly  lifting  his  head,  sobbed  out,  "I  think  we  ought 
to  have  our  f-f-fo-fo-four  pounds  ten  returned  to  us." — Samuel 
Butler,  Erewhon  Revisited,  p.  241. 


(d)    The  Compounding  Hyphen 

The  compounding  hyphen  (sometimes  in  the  distinctive 
form  *)  is  used  to  exhibit  compounds  as  extemporaneous  or 
imperfectly  coalesced.  Just  what  shall  be  hyphened  has  to 
be  decided  arbitrarily  in  part,  because  dictionaries  and 
style  books  do  not  agree. 

Extemporaneous  coinages   include   such  expressions  as 


176  Modern  Punctuation 

the  Russo-Japanese  War,  the  counter-revolutionary  faction, 
a  ten-parlor-car  train,  <(so-ness"  (a  humorous  or  satirical 
coinage),  and  seven-cent  fares,  which  may  also  be  written 
7-cent  fares  where  figures  are  better.  In  the  expressions 
1914-1918  and  the  New  York-Philadelphia  mail  printers 
commonly  use  not  the  hyphen  but  the  en  dash,  in  the  latter 
case  because  one  of  the  names  is  in  two  words. 

According  to  careful  American  practice,  the  important 
classes  of  expressions  which  regularly  or  usually  take  the 
compounding  hyphen  are  (1)  compounds  with  self  in  which 
self  is  like  an  object  and  the  other  part  like  a  verb,  (2) 
compound  numerals  like  twenty-six,  (3)  prepositional- 
phrase  compounds  like  son-in-law,  (4)  adjectival  com- 
pounds of  words  naming  colors  (silver-gray  tone),  (5) 
expressions  in  which  the  hyphen  is  necessary  to  clearness, 
as  in  re-creation  (remaking),  which  without  the  hyphen 
might  be  confused  with  recreation,  and  (6)  certain  com- 
pounds beginning  with  ex,  pre,  pro,  ultra,  quasi  (ex- 
governor,  pre-Shakespearean,  pro-German,  quasi-compli- 
ment).  Miscellaneous  words  usually  hyphened  include 
party-colored,  great-grandson  and  similar  words  of  relation- 
ship in  the  fourth  generation,  and  words  with  fellow-  except 
fellowship. 

Akin  to  the  seZ/-words  are  the  numerous  compounds  in 
which  the  parts  are  in  verbal-objective  relation,  as  in  hero- 
worship  and  property-holder.  But  short  and  common  com- 
pounds of  the  same  type  (taxpayer,  proofreader)  are  cor- 
rectly written  either  hyphened  or  solid.  Choice  is  according 
to  office  rules. 

The  use  of  the  hyphen  to  make  impromptu  compounds, 
as  in  three-to-em  space  or  British- Japanese  alliance,  is  well 
established.  The  hyphen  enables  the  writer  to  turn  an  ordi- 
nary phrase  into  an  adjective,  using  large  scale  in  large- 
scale  production^  limited  liability  in  limited-liability  com- 


The  Hyphen  a  Grouping  Mark  177 

panics,  direct  current  in  direct-current  circuit.  Such  com- 
pounds are  used  in  the  ordinary  adjective  position  before 
their  nouns.  Changed  from  that  position,  they  cease  to 
require  the  hyphen. 

The  forms  today,  tonight,  tomorrow  are  alternative  with 
to-day,  to-night,  to-morrow.  The  hyphened  forms  are  more 
common  in  books  and  still  current  in  some  newspapers; 
the  forms  without  hyphen  are  commonly  used  by  news- 
papers and  are  preferred  by  some  of  the  best  book  printers. 
The  age  and  familiar  use  and  the  pronunciation  of  these 
words  all  suggest  the  solid  form.  If  the  syllable  to-  were 
accented,  there  might  be  some  reason  for  retaining  the 
hyphen. 

Many  words  like  courthouse,  footnote,  byproduct  are 
written  either  solid  or  hyphened.  Choice  in  such  cases 
will  make  little  difference  save  on  the  score  of  uniformity. 

Some  writers  are  violently  opposed  to  the  use  of  the  com- 
pounding hyphen.  An  unnamed  "prominent  publisher" 
is  quoted  by  Mr.  Charles  Francis  (Printing  for  Profit,  p. 
242)  as  saying:  "All  hyphens  are  a  nuisance;  don't  put 
any  in  my  work  except  where  you  divide  at  the  end  of  a 
line."  Of  course  all  hyphens  are  not  a  nuisance.  Com- 
pounding hyphens  properly  used  are  a  means  of  clear 
grouping. 

The  hyphen  is  usually  a  nuisance  in  suspended  expres- 
sions like  ten-  or  twenty-dollar  notes.  It  is  clearly  a  nui- 
sance when  unnecessary  to  meaning  or  consistency.  Hy- 
phenation may  be  awkward,  self-conscious,  even  misleading. 
When  a  writer  in  the  North  American  Review  told  his 
readers  that  Germany  had  been  searched  for  certain  mate- 
rials "with  a  fine  tooth-comb,"  he  succeeded  at  least  in 
showing  that  the  hyphen  is  a  grouping  mark.  The  com- 
pounding hyphen  affects  the  apparent  grouping  and  at  the 
same  time  suggests  a  recession  of  accent. 


178  Modern  Punctuation 

IV.    POINTING  FOB  EEFERENCE 

Reference  points,  more  properly  called  indexes,  are 
employed  to  facilitate  reference  to  notes  at  the  foot  of  the 
page  or  elsewhere,  the  notes  bearing  similar  signs.  Marks 
of  reference  include  superior  figures,  superior  letters,  and  a 
series  of  seven  conventional  marks:  the  star  or  asterisk  (*), 
the  dagger  (t),  the  double  dagger  (J),  the  section  mark 
(§),  parallels  (||),  the  paragraph  mark  (ft),  and  the  index 
or  hand  (ugg-). 

Where  the  seven  conventional  signs  are  used,  the  first 
note  on  a  page  is  designated  by  the  star,  the  second  by  the 
dagger,  and  so  on  through  the  series,  each  page  beginning 
a  new  series.  These  marks  are  seldom  used  at  present  where 
notes  are  numerous,  being  too  few  unless  awkwardly 
doubled  for  notes  exceeding  seven,  and  being  objectionable 
on  the  score  of  appearance.  They  also  require  to  be 
changed  where  matter  is  repaged,  whereas  superior  figures 
can  be  used  for  an  indefinite  number  of  notes.  In  linotype 
composition  much  expense  may  be  saved  by  numbering 
notes  through  a  whole  chapter  or  article,  for  the  paging 
can  seldom  be  predicted  exactly  enough  to  save  resetting 
of  lines.  This  practice  is  usually  best  even  in  hand-set 
work. 

Where  footnotes  are  few,  the  first  two  or  three  of  the 
series  (star,  dagger,  etc.)  are  sometimes  preferred  to  supe- 
riors. Some  books  with  few  footnotes  use  superior  figures, 
with  a  new  series  for  each  page. 

A  reference  mark  in  the  text  is  placed  immediately  after 
the  statement  or  word  to  which  its  note  refers.  If  the  index 
occurs  at  a  punctuated  structural  boundary,  the  index  cus- 
tomarily follows  the  point.  Since  reference  marks  may  be 
felt  as  if  structural  points,  they  are  least  obtrusive  when 
placed  at  the  ends  of  sentences. 


Objectionable  Indexes  179 

Reference  indexes  are  interruptions  which  should  be 
required  to  justify  themselves.  Under  ordinary  circum- 
stances, the  writer  should  give  relevant  and  useful  matter 
its  proper  place  in  the  text.  He  should  not  use  footnotes 
for  display  of  unseasonable  learning.  His  problem  is  care- 
ful selection  and  skilful  composition,  so  that  his  readers 
may  read  straight  ahead. 

If  a  writer  must  frequently  refer  to  cases  and  authorities, 
he  may  find  footnotes  the  most  convenient  device  for  the 
purpose.  Without  them  he  may  have  to  clutter  his  text 
with  parentheses. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  INDIVIDUAL  STRUCTURAL  POINTS,  AND 
POINTS  IN  COMBINATION 

IN  previous  chapters  the  punctuation  marks  have  been 
treated  by  classes  according  to  their  functions.  The  present 
chapter,  necessarily  repeating  in  a  new  order  much  of  the 
matter  contained  in  Chapters  IV- VII,  deals  with  the  points 
one  by  one. 

For  avoidance  of  repetition,  the  combination  of  period 
or  comma  with  dash  will  be  included  under  the  dash.  And 
since  the  colon  with  dash  is  a  variant  of  the  colon,  this 
combination  will  be  mentioned  in  the  account  of  the  colon ; 
necessarily  also  in  the  passage  (pp.  231ff.)  regarding  the 
dash  as  a  reinforcing  point  in  general. 

As  an  account  of  quote  marks  in  this  chapter  would  have 
to  be  a  mere  repetition  or  abbreviation  of  that  in  Chapter 
VII  (pp.  139ff.),  nothing  need  be  said  of  quote  marks  except 
in  relation  to  the  structural  points.  For  a  similar  reason 
there  will  be  no  sections  in  this  chapter  on  the  apostrophe 
or  the  two  kinds  of  hyphens.  For  the  apostrophe,  see  pages 
170ff. ;  for  the  division  hyphen,  see  pages  172ff. ;  for  the 
compounding  hyphen,  see  pages  175ff.  For  reference  in- 
dexes, and  for  their  use  with  structural  points,  see  page 
178f. 

The  purpose  of  this  chapter  is  to  set  forth  the  character, 
the  uses,  and  the  abuses  of  the  structural  points — period, 
suspension  periods,  question  and  exclamation  marks,  colon, 
semicolon,  comma,  dash,  curves,  and  brackets. 

180 


Grouping  with  the  Period  181 

I.    THE  PERIOD 

The  period  is  the  most  frequent  of  all  punctuation  marks 
except  the  comma.  Logically  it  outweighs  all  the  other 
points  except  those  others  which  are  used  to  mark  the  end 
of  a  sentence ;  but  its  frequency  and  its  lack  of  suspensive 
quality  make  it  practically  a  light  and  rapid  mark,  however 
emphatic. 

Comparatively  speaking,  the  period  is  not  suspensive. 
But  it  is  emphatic  because  with  the  initial  capital  it  marks 
a  group  as  a  sentence.  Suppose  the  following  passage  from 
Mr.  G.  K.  Chesterton's  Heretics  (p.  267)  were  written  with 
periods  in  place  of  the  main-clause  points: 

There  is  nothing,  for  instance,  particularly  undemocratic  about 
kicking  your  butler  downstairs.  It  may  be  wrong,  but  it  is  not 
unfraternal.  In  a  certain  sense,  the  blow  or  kick  may  be  con- 
sidered as  a  confession  of  equality:  you  are  meeting  your  butler 
body  to  body;  you  are  almost  according  him  the  privilege  of 
the  duel. 

The  result  will  be  like  this: 

There  is  nothing,  for  instance,  particularly  undemocratic  about 
kicking  your  butler  downstairs.  It  may  be  wrong.  But  it  is  not 
unfraternal.  In  a  certain  sense,  the  blow  or  kick  may  be  con- 
sidered as  a  confession  of  equality.  You  are  meeting  your  butler 
body  to  body.  You  are  almost  according  him  the  privilege  of 
the  duel. 

Every  group  pointed  with  the  period  in  the  altered  form 
could  pass  muster  as  a  sentence ;  but  the  pointing  is  unfor- 
tunate because  it  hides  instead  of  revealing  the  relations 
of  the  statements  to  each  other  and  to  the  context.  So  far 
as  the  points  and  capitals  are  concerned,  the  groups  are 
of  equal  rank. 


182  Modern  Punctuation 

The  period  as  a  decimal  point  and  the  raised  period  in 
decorative  printing  are  beyond  the  field  of  discussion.  In 
text  matter  the  period  has  the  following  uses : 

1.  As  a  full  stop  marking  the  end  of  a  sentence  which 
is  not  exclamatory,  interrogative,  or  unfinished.  (A  sen- 
tence, as  defined  with  relation  to  pointing,  is  a  group  either 
full  or  elliptical  which  is  given  sentence  rank  by  initial 
capital  and  by  terminal  pointing.)  But  special  meaning 
may  suggest  the  use  of  the  question  or  exclamation  mark 
in  spite  of  declarative  form. 

You  are  ready?    I  don't  believe  it! 

The  period  is  sometimes  reinforced  with  suspension 
periods  for  special  effects — often  by  some  writers,  never  by 
others. 

I  looked  up  a  scholar  from  Yale,  Yutaka  Minakuchi,  friend  of 
old  friends,  student  of  philosophy,  in  which  he  instructed  me 
much,  first  lending  me  a  collar.  He  became  my  host  in  Ashe- 
ville.  It  needs  no  words  of  mine  to  enhance  the  fame  of  Japanese 
hospitality.  .  .  . — Vachel  Lindsay,  A  Handy  Guide  for  Beg- 
gars, p.  84f. 

In  this  sentence  the  suspension  periods  hold  attention  for 
an  instant  on  the  last  words  of  the  paragraph.  Used  within 
a  paragraph  they  are  likely  to  emphasize  both  preceding 
and  following  matter. 

The  other  sentence  points  are  the  question  and  exclama- 
tion marks,  the  terminal  dash,  the  colon  with  following 
capital,  and  suspension  periods.  Since  a  given  set  of  words 
is  not  inherently  a  sentence,  periods  may  be  said  to  compete 
also  with  points  used  for  compounding,  series  grouping, 
and  other  uses.  See  especially  pages  52ff.  (Points  and 
Paragraph  Movement)  and  67ff.  (the  Pointing  of  Main 
Clauses). 


Suspension  Periods  183 

2.  In  groups  (usually  of  three),  either  spaced  or  close, 
as  suspension  periods;  so  called  because  they  mark  preced- 
ing matter  as  unfinished,  or  left  dangling  an  instant  for 
special  attention.    Suspension  periods  may  be  used  within 
a  sentence  or  as  terminal  points ;  in  the  latter  case  with  or 
without  another  sentence  point. 

"It's  begun,"  he  announced  incoherently.     "The  Cossacks  are 
charging    the    crowds    in    the    streets.  .  .  .  Revolution.  .  .  ."- 
Roger  Lewis  in  the  World's  Work,  April,  1918. 

"Come  in,"  he  said;  and  as  he  spoke  the  droning  voice  grew 
still  .  .  .—Edith  Wharton,  Ethan  Frome,  p.  27. 

"Live  for  art !  If  I  had  to  choose  whether  I  would  lose  either 
art  or  science,  I  have  not  the  smallest  hesitation  in  saying  that 
I  would  lose  .  .  ." — Samuel  Butler,  Erewhon  Revisited,  p.  98. 

Theoretically  suspension  periods  are  used  in  addition  to 
the  sentence  point  if  the  sentence  is  complete,  by  themselves 
if  the  sentence  they  terminate  is  unfinished.  Actually  there 
is  no  uniformity  of  practice. 

Being  at  once  vague  and  emotional,  suspension  periods 
are  held  objectionable  by  some  writers.  But  since  they  are 
used  more  or  less  freely  by  many  authors  of  recognized 
ability — among  them  Mrs.  Wharton,  H.  G.  Wells,  Arnold 
Bennett,  Robert  Herrick,  Galsworthy,  and  Samuel  Butler— 
a  prohibition  of  suspension  periods  addressed  to  the  world 
at  large  would  be  a  waste  of  legislation. 

The  point  nearest  suspension  periods  in  effect  is  the 
dash. 

3.  Periods  in  groups,  usually  of  three,  are  commonly  used 
to  indicate  ellipsis  from  a  quotation.     Instead  of  periods, 
asterisks  are  sometimes  used,  more  often  in  newspapers  than 
in  books.     According  to  a  rule  sometimes  specified,  omis- 
sions of  less  than  a  paragraph  are  marked  with  ellipsis 
periods,   long  ellipses  being  marked  with   asterisks;   but 


184  Modern  Punctuation 

this  distinction  is  not  always  made  or  always  convenient. 
A  common  practice  when  a  paragraph  or  more  has  been 
omitted  is  to  use  a  full  line  of  ellipsis  periods  or  asterisks. 
The  kind,  number,  and  spacing  of  ellipsis  points  vary  con- 
siderably from  office  to  office. 

4.  Period  leaders  may  be  used  to  guide  the  eye  across 
a  page,  as  in  tabulated  lists.    Hyphens  and  dashes  are  also 
used  as  leaders. 

5.  A  single  period  with  or  without  following  dash  may 
be  used  to  point  a  side-head  which  is  not  a  part  of  the 
first  sentence  of  its  paragraph.     The  following  example 
uses  the  period  without  a  dash. 

10.  Attitude  towards  Slang.  Since  slang  is  not  an 
abnormal  or  diseased  growth  in  language,  but  arises  in  the 
language  just  as  other  words  arise,  there  is  no  reason  why  such 
words  in  themselves  should  be  condemned.  Intrinsically  they  are 
not  bad,  but  rather  good,  in  so  far  as  they  show  activity  of  mind 
and  a  desire  to  be  vigorously  expressive.  .  .  . — George  Philip 
Krapp,  Modern  English:  Its  Growth  and  Present  Use,  p.  209. 

Where  the  side-head  is  an  integral  part  of  the  first  sen- 
tence the  period  is  not  used. 

6.  The  period  may  be  used  after  a  section  number  or 
letter,  as  at  the  beginning  of  this  paragraph,  but  some 
printers  rule  that  white  space  may  make  the  point  unneces- 
sary.   Section  numbers  may  be  enclosed  in  curves,  especially 
those  which  show  divisions  within  a  paragraph. 

7.  The  period  is  often  used  as  an  abbreviation  point. 
Decision  whether  a  given  expression  is  to  be  called  an 
abbreviation  is  partly  arbitrary.    So  far  as  decision  is  logi- 
cal, it  depends  mainly  upon  whether  the  form  is  felt  as 
representing  a  longer  expression  or  not.    For  the  nature  of 
abbreviations,  and  for  the  use  of  the  period  and  the  apos- 
trophe, see  pages  168-172. 


The  Question  Mark  185 

THE  PERIOD  WITH  OTHER  MARKS 

Except  as  an  abbreviation  point,  the  single  period  (as 
opposed  to  grouped  periods  for  suspension  or  ellipsis)  does 
not  enter  into  combination  with  the  interrogation  or  excla- 
mation mark,  the  colon,  the  semicolon,  or  the  comma.  For 
the  period  with  dash,  see  page  232;  for  the  period  with 
curves  and  brackets  (the  same  rule  applying  to  both),  see 
page  237. 

With  quote  marks,  the  usual  though  not  invariable 
American  rule  is  to  let  the  period  precede  under  all  cir- 
cumstances. But  with  the  single  quote  the  order  is  some- 
times determined  by  the  sense,  the  period  preceding  if 
the  quotation  is  a  sentence  but  following  if  the  quoted 
matter  is  merely  a  phrase.  The  distinction  is  lost  on  most 
readers  and  is  a  matter  of  indifference  to  many  expert 
printers.  With  the  question  or  exclamation  mark  the  order 
makes  a  clear  difference. 

The  abbreviation  period  at  the  end  of  a  sentence  may 
coincide  with  the  terminal  period,  one  mark  serving  for 
both  functions.  If  the  terminal  point  is  an  exclamation  or 
question  mark,  the  abbreviation  period  precedes. 

II.    THE  QUESTION  MARK 

The  question  mark  is  used  far  less  frequently  by  most 
writers  than  the  period,  semicolon,  or  dash.  Its  usefulness 
depends  not  on  frequent  employment,  but  rather  on  occa- 
sional use  for  the  sake  of  paragraph  suspension  and  inter- 
rogative emphasis.  The  question  mark  is  essentially  an 
appeal  to  the  reader.  In  the  following  paragraph  from  an 
editorial  in  the  New  York  World  (March  16,  1918)  the 
question  form  is  used  for  suspensive  and  emphatic  develop- 
ment. 


186  Modern  Punctuation 

It  is  within  the  power  of  either  House  at  Albany  to  find  out 
precisely  who  and  what  the  Anti-Saloon  League  represents.  Is 
it  anything  more  than  a  self -constituted  coterie  of  bigots  and 
bulldozers?  Who  supplies  it  with  funds?  For  what  social, 
political  and  religious  bodies  does  it  assume  to  speak?  The 
people  whose  chosen  representatives  are  regularly  stampeded  by 
a  force  as  mysterious  as  it  is  dictatorial  have  a  right  to  know. 

Interrogative  sentences  are  often  useful  at  the  begin- 
ning of  paragraphs  for  emphatic  introduction  of  the  topic. 
They  are  also  useful  for  topical  changes  and  for  develop- 
ment. 

The  question  mark  has  the  following  uses: 

1.  As  a  terminal  mark  for  direct  questions  or  quotations, 
rarely  for  indirect  questions  except  those  felt  as  if  direct. 
In  the  following  sentences  (from  an  editorial  in  the  New 
York  Times  for  May  23,  1918)  the  second  question  mark 
points  the  interrogative  quotation  and  serves  also  as  a  sen- 
tence point. 

What,  however,  is  a  made-to-order  Boswell  to  do  in  the  case 
of  such  a  very  different  Napoleon  ?  ...  As  soon  as  Mr.  Rosner 
has  arrived  the  Kaiser  turns  to  the  officer  who  is  serving,  if 
we  may  so  phrase  it,  as  Mr.  Hennessy  to  his  Mr.  Dooley,  and 
says,  "What  have  I  not  done  to  preserve  the  world  from  these 
horrors?"  Mr.  Rosner  duly  notes  it,  retires  at  the  proper  signal, 
and  the  characteristic  utterance  is  properly  Boswelled  to  the 
world. 

In  justice  to  the  Times  it  should  be  explained  that  the  dots 
after  the  first  question  mark  are  ellipsis  points,  not  suspen- 
sion periods. 

2.  As  an  interior  structural  point,  but  far  less  frequently 
than  at  the  end  of  a  sentence  or  a  quoted  question. 

(a)  Marking  the  end  of  an  interrogative  parenthesis: 


Minor  Uses  of  the  Question  Mark  187 

The  boys  of  Harrow — or  was  it  Eton? — voted  him  the  finest 
of  poets. — John  Macy,  The  Spirit  of  American  Literature,  p.  108. 

That  Lanier  was  a  musician  as  well  as  a  poet  (is  there  any 
other  professional  musician  in  English  poetry?),  and  that  he  ex- 
pressed his  theory  in  "The  Science  of  English  Verse,"  are  facts 
caught  at  too  eagerly  by  those  who  would  account  for  some  of 
his  most  evidently  musical  arrangements  of  words. — Ib.,  p.  317. 

(b)  As  a  compounding  or  series  point,  the  two  uses  being 
not  always  easy  to  distinguish.     This  use  of  the  question 
mark  is  infrequent.     In  the  second  of  the  following  exam- 
ples the  group  following  the  question  mark  may  be  called 
either  an  adverbial  phrase  or  an  elliptical  clause. 

And  what  calm,  intellectual  joy  Miss  Sedgwick  takes  in  very 
gradually  stripping  these  goddesses!  Where  did  she  learn  this 
particular  art?  who  taught  her  such  a  lesson  of  bitterness?— 
William  Lyon  Phelps,  The  Advance  of  the  English  Novel,  p.  297. 

The  fact  is,  no  such  man  [as  Bryant]  ever  sat,  before  or  since, 
in  the  editorial  chair;  and  in  no  one  other  has  there  been  such 
culture,  scholarship,  wisdom,  dignity,  moral  idealism.  Was  it  all 
in  Greeley?  in  Dana? — W.  E.  Leonard,  in  the  Cambridge  History 
of  American  Literature,  vol.  I,  p.  276. 

And  the  young?  how  could  such  a  lie  as  that  a  chariot  and 
four  horses  came  down  out  of  the  clouds  enter  seriously  into  the 
life  of  any  one,  without  distorting  his  mental  vision,  if  not 
ruining  it? — Samuel  Butler,  Erewhon  Revisited,  p.  181f. 

In  compound  interrogative  sentences  the  prevailing  custom 
is  to  reserve  the  question  mark  for  the  end  of  the  sentence. 

(c)  Alone  or  within  curves  or  brackets — brackets  if  in- 
terpolated in  quoted  matter — to  mark  a  figure,   date,   or 
other  expression  as  doubtful,  or  to  indicate  a  gap  in  the 
available  information. 

In  1666  a  Virginia  colonist,  George  Alsop  (1638-?),  published 
in  London  a  little  volume  entitled  A  Character  of  the  Province  of 


188  Modern  Punctuation 

Maryland. — Carl  Holliday,  The  Wit  and  Humor  of  Colonial  Days, 
p.  33. 

Thomas  Kyd,  1557 (?) -1595 (?)—  From  table  of  authors  in 
G.  H.  Hair's  English  Literature:  Modern,  p.  253. 

The  semicolon  was  not  a  recognized  stop  in  England  until 
1643  [?],  hence  we  may  conclude  that  Shakespeare  must  have 
written  his  plays  without  its  aid. — P.  P.  Claxton  and  James  Mc- 
Ginnis,  Effective  English,  p.  529. 

The  question  mark  in  the  last  sentence  is  not  in  the  text 
of  Effective  English;  it  has  been  interpolated  and  therefore 
bracketed.  As  a  matter  of  fact  the  semicolon  was  used  by 
Shakespeare  in  Venus  and  Adonis  (1593),  by  Bacon  in  the 
Essays  of  1597,  by  the  publishers  of  the  King  James  Bible 
in  1611.  It  was  also  recognized  by  Ben  Jonson  in  the 
English  Grammar  long  before  1643. 

The  question  mark  in  curves  as  an  ironical  commentary 
is  likely  to  be  ineffective,  as  in  this  sentence : 

He  is  so  fond  of  doing  his  duty  (?)  that  I  can't  get  along  with 
him. 


THE  QUESTION  MARK  IN  COMBINATION 

The  question  mark  is  seldom  used  with  any  marks  other 
than  quotes,  suspension  periods,  and  parenthetical  points 
(dashes,  curves,  brackets).  Now  and  then  an  ingenious 
person  uses  the  question  mark  with  comma  or  semicolon 
or  colon ;  but  such  pointing  is  exceptional  and  eccentric. 

The  interrogation  point  precedes  the  quote  mark  if  the 
quotation  is  a  question ;  otherwise  it  follows  the  quote.  In 
the  following  paragraph  (from  page  74  of  Mr.  H.  G.  Wells 's 
What  Is  Coming f)  the  pointing  shows  that  the  quoted 
matter  is  interrogative.  The  dots  following  the  quote  mark 
are  suspension  periods. 


The  Exclamation  Mark  189 

"Meanwhile,"  they  will  say,  with  a  stiff  impatience  unusual 

in  their  class,  "about  us?".    .    . 

A  question  mark  intended  to  point  a  parenthesis  pre- 
cedes the  second  of  the  two  marks  enclosing  the  parenthesis, 
as  in  the  two  examples  on  page  187  above.  But  if  the 
question  mark  belongs  to  a  group  ending  with  an  expres- 
sion in  curves,  the  question  mark  follows  the  parenthetical 
point. 

Does  he  mean  the  Second  Republic  (1848)  ? 


III.    THE  EXCLAMATION  MARK 

The  exclamation  mark  has  been  variously  called  the  note 
of  admiration,  the  shriek  of  surprise,  the  representation  of 
an  excited  gentleman  jumping  skyward.  The  author  of 
The  Queen's  English  says  in  his  positive  way,  "Use  .  .  . 
as  few  as  possible  of  these  nuisances."  But  since  the  ex- 
clamation mark  properly  used  is  not  a  nuisance,  the  in- 
junction is  intemperate,  though  given  with  the  most  worthy 
motives  and  pointed  with  the  unemotional  period.  Those 
who  frame  prohibitions  with  regard  to  punctuation  marks 
apparently  assume  that  there  is  nothing  between  debauch- 
ery and  total  abstinence. 

The  exclamation  mark  is  used,  often  as  an  alternative  to 
other  points,  for  the  following  purposes : 

1.  As  a  terminal  point,  marking  the  end  of  a  sentence 
or  quotation.  The  group  so  marked  may  be  in  exclamatory 
form,  or  may  be  outwardly  declarative,  imperative,  or  in- 
terrogative. Question  and  exclamation  marks  are  some- 
times close  alternatives,  as  in  the  forms  Isn't  it  fine?  and 
Isn't  it  fine!  Either  pointing  calls  on  the  reader  to  esti- 
mate the  situation. 


190  Modern  Punctuation 

Pretty  work  the  elders  make  of  explaining  it!  They  talk 
about  style,  character-drawing,  the  "epic"  of  pioneer  life,  and 
they  attribute  to  this  most  popular  yarn-spinner  literary  virtues 
no  more  appropriate  to  him  than  to  the  graven  images  of  Chin- 
gachgook  that  used  to  stand  before  the  tobacco  shops.  Style? 
His  style  is  one  of  the  obstacles  that  the  story  plows  through, 
like  Bumppo  shouldering  through  underbrush.  Listen  to  this! 
[A  quotation  from  Cooper  follows.] — John  Macy,  The  Spirit  of 
American  Literature,  p.  37. 

May  it  not  be  so  in  this  case?  Consider!  We  have  just  re- 
versed our  traditional  Eastern  policy  to  accommodate  Japan;  we 
have  acknowledged  the  rightfulness  of  her  claim  to  special  privi- 
leges in  China,  without  consulting  China  and  against  China's  pro- 
test ;  surely  Japan  cannot  be  ungrateful  for  the  one  great  conces- 
sion which  she  has  sought  in  vain  for  years. — North  American 
Review,  January,  1918. 

In  the  two  passages  the  exclamatory  sentences  are  useful 
for  variation  of  tone  and  emphasis. 

2.  Infrequently  as  an  interior  structural  mark  for  com- 
pounding, for  series,  and  for  the  emphatic  pointing  of  pre- 
liminary or  parenthetical  matter,  including  vocatives.  The 
following  sentence  has  specimens  of  exclamation  marks  for 
both  main-clause  breaks  and  emphatic  vocatives. 

"Boy!"  said  the  famous  master,  James  Boyer,  to  little  Samuel 
Coleridge  when  he  was  crying,  the  first  day  of  his  return  after 
the  holidays,  "Boy!  the  school  is  your  father!  Boy!  the  school 
is  your  mother!  Boy!  the  school  is  your  brother!  the  school  is 
your  sister!  the  school  is  your  first  cousin,  and  your  second 
cousin,  and  all  the  rest  of  your  relations!  Let's  have  no  more 
crying." — Percy  H.  Boynton,  London  in  English  Literature, 
p.  207. 

But  this  arrangement  is  exceptional.  Much  oftener  the  ex- 
clamation mark  is  saved  for  the  end  of  the  sentence,  or  else 
the  successive  statements  are  pointed  as  sentences. 


Interior  Exclamation  Marks  191 

Where  the  exclamation  mark  belonging  to  a  quotation 
comes  at  a  clause  break,  it  may  serve  also  as  a  compounding 
point. 

Hanky  for  a  time  continued  to  foam  at  the  mouth  and  roar 
out,  "Tear  him  to  pieces !  burn  him  alive !"  but  when  he  saw  that 
there  was  no  further  hope  of  getting  the  people  to  obey  him,  he 
collapsed  on  to  a  seat  in  his  pulpit,  mopped  his  bald  head,  and 
consoled  himself  with  a  great  pinch  of  a  powder  which  corre- 
sponds very  closely  to  our  own  snuff. — Samuel  Butler,  Erewhon 
Revisited,  p.  211. 

The  pointing  of  preliminary  matter  with  the  exclamation 
mark  is  exceptional.  Even  such  expressions  as  Oh  and 
Alas  do  not  necessarily  take  the  exclamation  mark.  In  the 
great  majority  of  cases  the  exclamation  mark  occurs  at  the 
end  of  a  quotation  or  sentence.  In  this  paragraph  from 
A  Sheaf,  by  John  Galsworthy  (p.  220),  the  exclamatory 
vocatives  are  treated  as  sentences: 

Great  and  touching  comrade!  Clear,  invincible  France!  To- 
day, in  your  grave  chivalry,  you  were  never  so  high,  so  desirable, 
so  true  to  yourself  and  to  Humanity! 

The  use  of  the  exclamation  point  at  the  end  of  parentheti- 
cal matter  is  the  most  common  use  within  the  sentence  save 
for  the  pointing  of  quoted  matter. 

The  contribution,  as  it  was  so  politely  termed — war  having  need 
of  so  many  euphemisms! — was  subsequently  reduced  to  forty- 
five  million  francs. — Brand  Whitlocli,  "Belgium  under  the  Ger- 
man Heel,"  in  Everybody's  Magazine  for  June,  1918. 

3.  The  exclamation  mark  is  sometimes  used  between 
curves  to  mark  an  expression  as  unusual  or  ironical,  or  is 
interpolated  within  brackets  (less  properly  within  curves) 


192  Modern  Punctuation 

as  a  commentary  on  quoted  matter.  The  exclamation  mark 
in  the  first  sentence  following  is  an  unsuccessful  piece  of 
irony. 

His  prudent  ancl  able  ( ! )  management  saved  only  the  remnants 
from  destruction. 

Three  volumes  of  unimpeachable  poetry  [!]  have  been  written 
in  America:  "Leaves  of  Grass,"  the  thin  volume  of  Poe,  and 
the  poetry  of  Sidney  Lanier. — John  Macy,  The  Spirit  of  Ameri- 
can Literature,  p.  309. 

The  exclamation  mark  is  shown  by  the  brackets  to  be  an 
interpolation. 

THE  EXCLAMATION  MARK  WITH  OTHER  POINTS 

The  exclamation  mark  may  occur  with  ellipsis  periods 
or  asterisks,  with  suspension  periods,  with  parenthetical 
points  (dashes,  curves,  brackets),  sometimes  with  the  dash; 
almost  never  with  colon,  semicolon,  or  comma.  Ellipsis 
periods,  suspension  periods,  or  the  dash  may  precede  or 
follow  according  to  circumstances.  With  parenthetical 
points  the  exclamation  mark  precedes  if  intended  to  point 
the  parenthesis,  but  follows  if  belonging  to  a  group  con- 
taining the  parenthesis.  With  quote  marks  the  exclama- 
tion point  precedes  or  follows  according  to  the  meaning, 
preceding  the  quote  if  the  quotation  is  exclamatory.  The 
principles  of  order  are  the  same  as  for  the  question  mark. 

IV.   THE  COLON 

The  colon  is  usually  an  equality  mark  with  emphasis 
mainly  on  the  explanation,  quotation,  or  other  following 
matter.  Though  still  used  by  many  writers  as  a  compound- 
ing point  no  more  anticipatory  than  the  semicolon,  it  is 


The  Nature  of  the  Colon  193 

most  often  a  mark  of  anticipation  introducing  an  extract, 
a  list,  or  matter  of  any  sort  for  which  definite  preparation 
has  been  made.  The  colon  is  ordinarily  the  most  formal 
of  all  points,  but  varies  in  effect  with  the  wording.  For 
this  reason  it  is  sometimes  light,  though  usually  emphatic. 

The  compounding  colon  is  used  by  so  few  American  writ- 
ers as  to  be  in  some  danger  of  extinction.  But  the  Ameri- 
can minority  is  of  respectable  strength,  and  is  reinforced 
by  the  example  of  British  writers,  who  in  general  are  less 
restricted  by  rules  and  journalistic  conventions  than  their 
American  contemporaries.  The  question  whether  to  use 
the  compounding  colon  is  a  question  of  utility  rather  than 
correctness.  If  the  colon  is  useful  for  clearness  and  good 
movement,  there  is  good  reason  and  authority  for  using  it. 
Save  for  effects  on  movement  and  emphasis,  with  incidental 
effects  in  the  direction  of  variety,  there  is  no  function  of 
the  compounding  colon  which  cannot  be  performed  by  one 
of  the  other  points;  but  some  first-rate  writers  appear  to 
consider  the  exceptions  important. 

The  colon  in  text  matter  has  the  following  uses : 

1.  As  an  anticipatory  point,  especially  though  not  always 
after  formally  introductory  wording.  The  matter  so  in- 
troduced may  be  a  quotation,  a  list,  an  appositive  or  ap- 
positive  series,  a  salutation  (Dear  Sir  or  the  like),  or  other 
matter.  The  nearest  equivalent  of  the  colon  in  this  use  is 
the  dash.  The  anticipatory  colon  may  be  used  at  the  end 
of  a  paragraph  to  suspend  attention  upon  a  following  para- 
graph or  series. 

The  colon  may  replace  the  period  at  the  end  of  a  sen- 
tence introducing  the  topic  of  a  passage.  As  the  colon  so 
used  is  strongly  suspensive,  the  presumption  is  in  favor  of 
the  period.  In  the  following  case  the  colon-pointed  words 
introduce  a  passage  of  five  sentences  with  two  paragraph 
breaks. 


194  Modern  Punctuation 

Here  is  a  case  in  point :  An  underwear  house  in  New  York  sold 
a  bill  of  goods  to  a  storekeeper  in  Milan.  He  ordered  from 
sample  and  the  firm's  agent  demanded  that  the  draft  be  attached 
to  the  bill  of  lading.  The  buyer  refused  to  agree  to  these  terms, 
on  the  ground  that  the  shipment  might  not  be  up  to  the  sample. 

"But  you  know  our  name,"  said  the  salesman. 

"Then  I  suggest  that  you  find  out  something  about  mine  for 
a  change !"  said  the  indignant  Italian  as  he  canceled  the  order. — 
Isaac  F.  Marcosson,  in  the  Saturday  Evening  Post  for  March 
9, 1918,  p.  101. 

The  expression  Here  is  a  case  in  point  might  end  with  a 
period ;  it  is  no  more  definitely  introductory  than  many  ordi- 
nary topical  sentences.  For  example,  the  first  three  sen- 
tences of  a  paragraph  on  page  244  of  Mr.  De  Vinne  's  Correct 
Composition  are  pointed  as  follows,  the  introductory  group 
taking  the  period. 

Two  systems  of  punctuation  are  in  use.  One  may  be  called 
the  close  or  stiff,  and  the  other  the  open  or  easy  system.  For 
all  ordinary  descriptive  writing  the  open  or  easy  system,  which 
teaches  that  points  be  used  sparingly,  is  in  most  favor,  but  the 
close  or  stiff  system  cannot  be  discarded. 

According  to  both  logic  and  the  weight  of  good  usage, 
the  period  is  preferable  when  the  matter  introduced  is 
developed  through  several  sentences.  If  the  development 
is  completed  within  a  single  sentence,  the  colon  has  more 
justification. 

An  introductory  clause  with  colon  is  sometimes  followed 
in  the  same  paragraph  by  a  small  letter,  sometimes  by  a 
capital.  There  is  no  fixed  rule.  The  general  custom  of 
compound  sentences  suggests  a  small  letter  unless  the  fol- 
lowing word  would  be  capitalized  without  regard  to  the 
clause  break.  If  the  colon  suspends  a  series  of  sentences, 
the  first  sentence  naturally  begins  with  a  capital.  But 


The  Appositive  Colon  195 

apart  from  quotations,  colon  and  following  capital  are  in- 
congruous. 

A  subordinate  group  following  a  colon  and  standing  in 
apposition  to  the  preceding  words  will  usually  begin  with 
a  small  letter.  In  the  first  of  the  following  examples  the 
colon  is  an  informal  appositional  point;  in  the  second  it  is 
formal  by  virtue  of  the  wording. 

In  the  present  war  this  spirit  amounts  to  a  cool  and  set 
resolution  that  the  enemy  must  and  shall  be  destroyed:  a  con- 
viction far  transcending  the  personal  risks  and  wrongs  and  sen- 
sibilities of  the  soldier. — From  an  editorial  in  the  New  York 
Evening  Sun. 

A  reading  public  and  a  theatre  public  differ  in  this:  that 
what  the  reader  loses  he  may  regain  by  turning  back,  but  what 
the  audience  misses  is  wholly  lost,  unless,  by  chance,  repetition 
brings  it  further  on  in  the  development  of  the  plot. — Montrose 
J.  Moses,  The  American  Dramatist,  p.  19. 

In  such  sentences  there  is  no  need  to  suppose  with  certain 
textbook  writers  that  a  namely  has  been  omitted.  In  all 
probability  the  use  of  so  formal  a  word  was  not  considered. 

Before  namely  with  an  appositive  not  separately  para- 
graphed, the  options  are  comma,  semicolon,  colon,  dash. 
According  to  the  weight  of  current  textbook  authority, 
namely  should  be  preceded  by  colon  or  dash  and  followed 
by  the  comma.  (See  pages  98ff.)  At  the  end  of  a  para- 
graph, namely  is  usually  preceded  by  a  comma  and  fol- 
lowed by  a  colon  or  dash. 

The  rules  for  namely  are  generally  applicable  to  as,  to 
wit,  and  similar  expressions.  But  some  of  them  are  in- 
formal enough  to  permit  lighter  punctuation. 

2.  The  colon  is  sometimes  used  between  main  clauses 
without  clear  anticipatory  quality,  or  it  may  be  at  once 
anticipatory  and  compounding. 


196  Modern  Punctuation 

Those  who  know  best  what  it  is  like  abhor  its  every  aspect: 
many  of  them  are  fighting  with  the  splendid  faith  that  they  are 
giving  their  lives  to  end  War,  not  just  this  war. — Robert  Herriek, 
in  the  Dial,  February  14,  1918. 

We  are  more  than  doubtful  about  the  status  of  Washington: 
he  was  the  Father  of  his  Country,  but  he  lacked  a  certain  in- 
dispensable tang. — Stuart  P.  Sherman,  On  Contemporary  Litera- 
ture, p.  26. 

For  definitions  are  very  dreadful  things:  they  do  the  two 
things  that  most  men,  especially  comfortable  men,  cannot  endure. 
They  fight;  and  they  fight  fair.— G.  K.  Chesterton,  The  Utopia 
of  Usurers,  p.  36. 

For  that  source  we  must  go  back  to  the  remote  beginnings  of 
our  era,  and  look  into  the  obscure  mingling  of  Oriental  and 
Occidental  civilization  which  followed  the  invasion  of  Alexander's 
army  into  Asia,  and  which,  under  the  all-merging  sway  of  the 
Roman  Empire,  created  a  new  faith  and  a  new  world:  more 
definitely,  we  must  look  into  the  confluence  of  Eastern  religion 
and  Western  philosophy. — Paul  Elmer  More,  The  Drift  of  Ro- 
manticism, p.  20. 

In  the  last  example,  the  colon  might  be  replaced  by  the 
period.     Such  decisions  are  a  matter  of  taste. 

The  compounding  colon  is  sometimes  used  before  such 
connectives  as  but  and  for;  much  oftener  in  the  absence 
of  a  conjunction. 

Such  a  tribute  by  boys  to  intellectual  superiority  was  less  rare 
in  those  days  than  it  has  become  since:  but  it  would  not  be  easy 
to  find  a  parallel  to  it  at  any  time. — John  Bailey,  Dr.  Johnson 
and  His  Circle,  p.  15. 

The  colon  is  occasionally  used  between  members  of  a 
clause  series : 

For  if  a  true  novel  be  a  good  story  well  told,  it  is  certain 
that  the  majority  of  so-called  novels  are  not  stories  at  all:  of 


TJie  Semicolon  197 

the  saving  remnant,  only  a  few  are  good  stories:  and  still  fewer 
are  well  told. — Williams  Lyon  Phelps,  The  Advance  of  the  Eng- 
lish Novel,  p.  13. 

To  most  editorial  writers  this  use  of  the  colon  would  no 
doubt  seem  eccentric. 

3.  The  colon  has  certain  arbitrary  or  semi-mechanical  uses 
which  may  occur  in  straight  matter,  as  in  scriptural  and 
literary  references,  expressions  of  time,  or  bibliog  aphical 
entries:  Matthew  1:4-8;  "The  Tempest,"  I.i;  11:30  in  the 
morning  (alternative  with  11.30)  ;  "The  Writer's  Desk 
Book,"  New  York:  Stokes. 


THE  COLON  WITH  OTHER  POINTS 

The  combination  of  colon  with  dash  is  alternative  with 
the  colon.  This  combination  is  often  used  before  a  quota- 
tion or  a  series  of  particulars  separately  paragraphed,  or 
after  the  salutation  in  a  letter.  The  colon  and  dash  together 
accomplish  no  more  than  the  colon  alone;  but  the 
colon-dash  combination  is  regularly  used  before  a  para- 
graphed quotation  in  some  newspaper  offices  and  by  certain 
book-publishers  of  the  highest  standing. 

When  the  colon  occurs  with  a  terminal  quote  mark,  the 
colon  follows  the  quote  unless  a  part  of  the  extract. 

V.    THE  SEMICOLON 

The  semicolon  is  the  most  clearly  marked  balancing  or 
coordinating  point.  For  antithesis  and  for  coordinate  mem- 
bers in  series  other  marks  are  used,  but  no  other  is  so 
clearly  specialized.  The  semicolon  is  not  a  general-utility 
point  like  the  comma,  a  parenthetical  point  like  the  comma 
or  dash,  or  a  formal  apposition  mark  like  the  colon.  It 


198  Modern  Punctuation 

may  be  used  between  groups  in  apposition  or  between  noun 
and  modifier,  but  with  the  suggestion  that  they  are  approxi- 
mately coordinate.  As  a  series  point  the  semicolon  is  often 
alternative  with  the  comma.  As  a  compounding  point  it 
competes  with  comma,  colon,  dash,  and  with  period,  ques- 
tion mark,  and  exclamation  mark;  for  there  is  often  diffi- 
culty in  deciding  whether  a  group  should  stand  as  a  main 
clause  or  be  given  the  rank  of  a  sentence.  The  decision  in 
such  a  case  involves  considerations  of  emphasis,  clearness, 
and  paragraph  movement. 

There  is  an  obstinate  popular  misunderstanding  in  re- 
gard to  the  semicolon,  held  even  by  certain  editors  and 
textbook  writers.  In  a  current  work  entitled  Effective 
English,  by  Messrs.  P.  P.  Claxton  and  James  MeGinnis, 
one  finds  this  summary  statement  (page  531)  :  "There  is  a 
marked  disposition  to  do  away  with  the  semicolon  where  it 
[the  semicolon?]  can  be  done  with  safety.  Of  course,  there 
are  times  when  this  point  is  indispensable,  but  its  use 
should  be  limited  to  cases  where  no  other  mark  will  do. ' ' 

The  passage  is  addressed  to  students;  but  the  wording 
is  such  as  to  give  the  impression  that  the  semicolon  is 
rapidly  passing  into  oblivion  for  writing  in  general,  and 
should  be  avoided  whenever  another  mark  can  possibly  be 
stretched  into  service.  If  one  is  to  accept  this  opinion, 
with  others  of  the  same  kind  in  currency,  the  use  of  the 
semicolon  is  a  piece  of  ostent'atious  formality. 

The  semicolon  is  in  fact  used  by  editorial  writers  in  such 
periodicals  as  the  North  American  Review,  the  New  York 
Nation  and  Evening  Post,  the  New  Republic,  the  Satur- 
day Evening  Post,  the  New  York  Sun,  the  New  York 
Times,  even  the  New  York  American.  It  is  also  used  by 
Colonel  Watterson  ("Marse  Henry"),  Mr.  Irvin  Cobb, 
Mr.  Don  C.  Seitz,  Mr.  S.  G.  Blythe,  Mr.  J.  L.  Given,  and 
Mr.  William  Allen  White — newspaper  men  all  six  of  them 


Prejudice  Against  the  Semicolon  199 

— and  by  such  writers  as  Miss  Agnes  Repplier,  Mr.  Mere- 
dith Nicholson,  Mr.  S.  M.  Crothers,  Mr.  G.  K.  Chesterton, 
and  Mr.  Arnold  Bennett.  In  fact  there  are  few  good  writ- 
ers, publishing  books  under  their  own  names,  who  deny 
themselves  the  use  of  the  semicolon.  In  a  modern  style 
with  economical  use  of  connectives,  the  semicolon  is  often 
an  indispensable  grouping  point. 

In  the  list  of  twenty  periodicals  and  writers  on  page 
249,  newspapers  and  newspaper  men  making  about  half  the 
list,  the  semicolons  are  outnumbered  only  by  commas  and 
periods.  And  in  the  table  of  editorial  pointing  on  page 
251,  the  semicolon  is  still  third  of  all  points  in  frequency. 
Its  nearest  competitor  for  third  place  is  the  dash. 

Newspaper  editorial  practice  is  significant  because  such 
writing  must  be  direct  and  readable.  If  the  semicolon 
were  stiff  and  obsolete,  it  would  seldom  be  found  in  news- 
paper writing. 

The  popular  prejudice  against  the  semicolon  has  its 
grain  of  truth.  The  semicolon — like  every  other  punctua- 
tion mark — has  been  overworked.  It  has  also  gained  a  bad 
name  through  its  association  with  formal  writing. 

In  this  sentence,  of  a  type  still  offered  as  good  writing  in 
some  accounts  of  punctuation,  the  semicolons  are  felt  as 
being  stiff  and  formal : 

Philosophers  assert,  that  Nature  is  unlimited  in  her  opera- 
tions; that  she  has  inexhaustible  treasures  in  reserve;  that  know- 
ledge will  always  be  progressive;  and  that  all  future  genera- 
tions will  continue  to  make  discoveries. 

But  the  effect  of  the  pointing  is  difficult  to  distinguish 
from  the  effect  of  the  formal  wording. 

In  business  letters  the  semicolon  is  not  often  useful. 
In  news  stories  it  is  often  dispensed  with,  save  for  lists  of 
names  with  addresses  and  the  like,  on  the  ground  of  edito- 


200  Modern  Punctuation 

rial  preferences — not  at  all  because  the  semicolon  is  useless 
for  narrative,  but  because  young  men  doing  unsigned  work 
are  often  expected  to  limit  themselves  narrowly  in  point- 
ing as  in  style.  Such  restrictions  are  not  likely  to  be  im- 
posed on  responsible  writers  even  in  a  newspaper  office. 

The  semicolon  has  the  following  uses : 

1.  As  a  compounding1  or  main-clause  point.  The  com- 
pounding semicolon  separates  main  clauses  which  would 
be  too  light  if  separated  by  the  comma,  and  too  distinct 
or  formal  if  separated  by  colon,  dash,  period,  question 
mark,  or  exclamation  mark.  What  point  should  be  used 
in  a  given  case  will  depend  only  in  part  on  the  length 
of  the  clauses.  Circumstances  which  may  make  the 
semicolon  preferable  to  the  comma  are  the  absence  of  a 
connective,  the  use  of  a  logical  in  place  of  a  grammati- 
cal connective  (pages  Tiff.),  length  or  complexity  of  parts, 
or  a  shift  of  subject  between  first  and  second  clause.  On 
the  other  hand,  any  of  these  circumstances  may  make  a  full 
stop  preferable  to  the  semicolon.  Each  case  has  to  be 
decided  in  relation  to  the  context.  (See  above,  page  67.) 

In  the  following  passage  the  colon,  semicolon,  and  comma 
exhibit  statements  according  to  their  different  rank : 

In  general,  there  are  two  main  matters  to  remember  in  con- 
nection with  introductions:  the  opening  portion  of  a  composition 
puts  the  writer  under  certain  obligations  to  his  reader,  and  these 
have  been  already  mentioned;  'again,  the  less  formality  about 
introductions,  and  about  conclusions  as  well,  the  better  for  all 
concerned. — Percy  H.  Boynton,  Principles  of  Composition,  p.  28. 

The  compounding  semicolon  is  used  both  with  and  with- 
out connectives,  and  with  clauses  either  full  or  elliptical. 
The  following  sentences  have  the  semicolon  with  gram- 
matical connective. 


The  Compounding  Semicolon  201 

So  I  do  not  insist  on  detailed  accounts  of  how  the  boy  passes 
his  time  in  class  or  at  play;  for  what  are  time  and  space  and 
grammatical  sequence  to  the  child? — Simeon  Strunsky,  Post- 
Impressions,  p.  126f. 

"Kill  the  dog,  he  is  a  reviewer,"  cried  the  young  Goethe;  and 
in  an  age  nearer  our  own  William  Morris  expressed  his  contempt 
for  those  who  earn  a  livelihood  by  writing  their  opinions  of  the 
works  of  others. — J.  E.  Spingarn,  Creative  Criticism,  p.  3f. 

The  semicolon  is  the  typical  mark  for  the  separation  of 
clauses  without  connective  or  with  a  link  word  like  also, 
hence,  or  nevertheless.  Except  with  yet,  the  comma  is 
seldom  sufficient  at  a  clause  break  with  a  logical  connective. 
Whether  the  semicolon  is  preferable  to  the  period  is  a 
question  of  clear  and  otherwise  effective  presentation. 
There  is  no  cast-iron  rule. 

It  should  seem  that  a  party  whose  theories  are  based  on  con- 
fidence in  untrammeled  human  nature  ought  to  present  the  aims 
and  destinies  of  mankind  in  a  fairer  light  than  its  adversary; 
yet  the  very  contrary  is  the  fact. — Paul  Elmer  More,  Aristocracy 
and  Justice,  p.  169. 

No  such  partiality  in  Dante ;  he  paints  what  he  hates  as  frankly 
as  what  he  loves,  and  in  all  things  he  is  complete  and  sincere. — 
George  Santayana,  Three  Philosophical  Poets,  p.  134. 

Strikes  again  in  Austria;  this  time,  significantly,  in  the  north, 
where  the  unyielding  hatred  of  the  Czechs  for  the  dynasty  and 
the  ruling  nations  has  constantly  hampered  the  Hapsburg  Govern- 
ment since  the  beginning  of  the  war. — New  York  Times,  March 
18,  1918. 

In  the  last  two  examples  the  initial  clauses  are  elliptical. 

The  compounding  semicolon  may  be  a  balancing  point, 
as  in  this  example : 

The  cause  which  the  flag  stands  for  may  be  foolish  and  fleet- 
ing; the  love  may  be  calf-love,  and  last  a  week.  But  the  patriot 


202  Modern  Punctuation 

thinks  of  the  flag  as  eternal;  the  lover  thinks  of  his  love  as 
something  that  cannot  end.  These  moments  are  filled  with  eter- 
nity; these  moments  are  joyful  because  they  do  not  seem  momen- 
tary. Once  look  at  them  as  moments  after  Pater's  manner,  and 
they  become  as  cold  as  Pater  and  his  style.  Man  cannot  love 
mortal  things.  He  can  only  love  immortal  things  for  an  instant. 
— G.  K.  Chesterton,  Heretics,  p.  108f. 

In  this  passage  balance  is  managed  with  the  semicolon  and 
also  (in  the  last  two  sentences)  with  the  period.  In  like 
manner,  antithetical  balance  with  it  is  and  it  is  not  may 
employ  more  than  one  type  of  punctuation. 

I  do  not,  therefore,  say  that  the  word  "progress"  is  unmean- 
ing; I  say  it  is  unmeaning  without  the  previous  definition  of  a 
moral  doctrine,  and  that  it  can  only  be  applied  to  groups  of 
persons  who  hold  that  doctrine  in  common. — G.  K.  Chesterton, 
Heretics,  p.  37. 

I  am  not  scolding  her  for  this,  I  am  merely  mentioning  it. — 
William  Lyon  Phelps,  The  Advance  of  the  English  Novel,  p.  296. 

Antithesis  and  balance  may  exist  between  phrases,  sen- 
tences, even  larger  groups.  The  sentences  above  illustrate 
only  two  of  the  possible  styles. 

The  compounding  semicolon  can  be  anticipatory  like  the 
colon,  though  lighter.  The  semicolon  is  the  mark  most 
often  used  when  a  second  clause  answers  a  promise  made 
or  implied  in  the  first  clause. 

In  the  last  few  years  of  his  life  he  received  a  higher  honor 
than  a  degree  from  any  university  however  venerable;  he  re- 
ceived the  highest  honor  within  the  gift  of  the  Republic. — Stuart 
P.  Sherman,  On  Contemporary  Literature,  p.  25. 

2.  As  a  series  point.  The  semicolon  is  often  used  in 
lists  of  names  with  addresses  or  titles,  names  with  figures, 


Semicolon  with  Series  203 

and  other  lists  where  commas  would  be  insufficient  to  sepa- 
rate the  groups  clearly  or  with  sufficient  emphasis. 

See  volume  II,  chapters  3  and  4;  volume  III,  chapter  7,  sec- 
tions 1  and  2. 

Yeas,  2;  nays,  3.  (Alternative  style:  Yeas  2,  nays  3.) 
The  works  cited  are  The  Writer's  Desk  Book,  by  William  Dana 
Orcutt;  Correct  Composition,  by  Theodore  L.  De  Vinne;  the 
Manual  of  Style,  by  the  Staff  of  the  University  of  Chicago  Press ; 
and  the  Style  Book  of  Typographical  Practice,  by  Douglas  C. 
McMurtrie. 

When  the  parts  are  light  and  simple  enough  to  be  clearly 
grouped  by  commas,  commas  are  usually  preferable. 

Clauses  or  other  groups  in  common  dependence  may  be 
separated  by  semicolons  or  commas,  the  choice  of  points 
depending  on  the  complexity  and  weight  of  the  parts. 

He  [the  writer  on  the  "laws"  of  punctuation]  must  begin  by 
admitting  that  no  two  masters  of  the  art  would  punctuate  the 
same  page  in  the  same  way;  that  usage  varies  with  every  print- 
ing-office and  with  every  proofreader;  that  as  regards  the 
author,  too,  his  punctuation  is  largely  determined  by  his  style,  or, 
in  other  words,  is  personal  and  individual — "singular,  and  to  the 
humor  of  his  irregular  self." — Wendell  Phillips  Garrison,  "A 
Dissolving  View  of  Punctuation,"  Atlantic  Monthly,  August,  1906. 

3.  As  a  mark  of  apposition.  Though  not  customarily  a 
mark  of  apposition,  the  semicolon  is  sometimes  the  most 
convenient  point,  especially  when  the  appositive  group  is 
in  series  or  is  felt  as  an  elliptical  main  clause. 

When  the  war  is  over  there  will  be  great  numbers  of  men  whose 
lives  have  been  hopelessly  jolted,  who  have  to  find  new  occupa- 
tions; men  qualified  and  probably  only  too  willing  to  take  posi- 
tions of  technical  instruction  and  military  training  under  such 
a  scheme. — John  Galsworthy,  A  Sheaf,  p.  348. 


204  Modern  Punctuation 

I  mean  the  idea  that  there  is  some  sort  of  dignity  in  draw- 
ing the  sword  upon  a  man  who  has  not  got  a  sword;  a  waiter,  or 
a  shop  assistant,  or  even  a  schoolboyj — G.  K.  Chesterton,  The 
Appetite  of  Tyranny,  p.  37f. 

In  the  following  sentences  the  appositive  relation  blends 
with  either  series  or  compounding. 

For  any  kind  of  pleasure  a  totally  different  spirit  is  required; 
a  certain  shyness,  a  certain  indeterminate  hope,  a  certain  boyish 
expectation. — G.  K.  Chesterton,  Heretics,  p.  109. 

We  can  do  nothing  now,  perhaps,  save  prosecute  the  fight  to  its 
appointed  end;  but  if  we  are  not  to  turn  out  fraudulent  after 
the  event,  it  is  already  time  to  feel  ahead;  to  accustom  our 
minds  to  the  thought  of  the  future  efforts,  imperial  and  social, 
needful  to  meet  future  dangers,  and  to  fulfil  the  trusts  we  shall 
have  taken  up. — John  Galsworthy,  A  Sheaf,  p.  332. 

Of  the  paragraph  semicolon,  which  is  practically  obsolete 
in  good  printing,  enough  has  been  said  in  Chapter  IV 
(page  54).  Where  matter  capable  of  standing  as  a  single 
paragraph  is  divided  into  paragraphs  by  way  of  tabula- 
tion, the  usual  terminal  mark  is  the  period. 

For  the  traditional  use  of  the  semicolon  before  namely 
and  similar  expressions,  see  pages  98ff. 


THE  SEMICOLON  WITH  OTHER  MARKS 

The  semicolon  may  occur  with  ellipsis  or  suspension 
periods,  with  the  second  of  a  pair  of  curves  or  brackets, 
rarely  with  the  dash,  of  course  often  with  quote  marks. 
For  the  order  of  semicolon  with  curves,  see  page  238  below. 
With  ellipsis  periods,  the  semicolon  precedes  or  follows, 
according  to  the  position  which  the  omitted  words  would 
fill  if  present.  Suspension  periods  may  either  precede  or 
follow  the  semicolon. 


The  Nature  of  the  Comma  205 

The  combination  of  semicolon  with  dash  may  be  regarded 
as  a  strengthened  form  of  the  semicolon.  It  is  no  longer 
common. 

VI.   THE  COMMA 

The  comma  is  the  least  specialized  of  all  points  and 
therefore  the  most  elusive.  Generally  speaking,  it  is  the 
lightest  mark  in  cases  of  (1)  compounding,  (2)  series,  with 
or  without  suspension,  (3)  preliminary,  parenthetical,  and 
afterthought  matter,  and  modifiers,  (4)  the  interruption  or 
resumption  of  quotations,  and  (5)  suspension.  The  comma 
is  also  used  for  what  is  reputed  to  be  ellipsis.  In  its  various 
uses  the  comma  competes  with  the  sentence  points,  the 
colon,  the  semicolon,  the  dash,  and  curves.  In  a  particular 
case  there  may  be  no  reasonable  doubt  as  to  the  choice; 
but  a  given  form  and  length  of  words  may  admit  of  a  choice 
which  can  be  made  only  in  the  light  of  such  considerations 
as  the  importance  of  the  group  in  the  paragraph. 

Unlike  the  period,  question  mark,  exclamation  point, 
colon,  semicolon,  dash,  curves,  and  brackets,  the  comma  has 
no  clear  special  quality  save  for  its  comparative  lightness. 
It  is  not  a  terminal  point  like  the  period,  or  a  specialized 
coordinating  mark  like  the  semicolon,  or  an  anticipatory 
point  like  the  colon.  Even  the  dash,  which  is  nearest  the 
comma  in  variety  of  uses,  has  a  characteristic  quality,  and 
all  the  points  except  the  dash  have  a  much  more  limited 
number  of  uses.  The  comma  may  be  used  singly  or  in 
pairs;  it  may  be  either  coordinating  or  subordinating;  it 
may  set  off  matter  either  parenthetical  or  structurally  essen- 
tial; it  may  serve  merely  to  reinforce  the  dash;  it  may 
bound  a  group  for  emphasis  or  clearness  where  the  syn- 
tactical relation  is  very  close.  Being  used  for  many  pur- 
poses and  several  times  oftener  than  any  other  point  save 
the  period,  the  comma  has  no  special  and  constant  flavor. 


206  Modern  Punctuation 

An  interesting  suggestion  regarding  the  effect  of  the 
comma  is  made  by  Miss  Constance  M.  Kourke  in  an  article 
listed  on  page  16  above.  "The  comma,  called  the  half- 
point  or  semi-circular  mark  by  Aldus,  with  its  tiny  hook 
or  curve  leftward,  creates  a  suspension,  an  effect  of  in- 
completeness, as  surely  as  the  period  is  suggestive  of  con- 
clusion. The  comma  emphasizes  but  at  the  same  time  sub- 
ordinates; by  its  office  parts  of  the  whole  statement  come 
out  distinctive,  yet  each  is  kept  relative  to  the  larger  pur- 
pose." "A  word  or  phrase  cannot  be  'set  off,'  as  the 
rhetorics  say,  by  commas;  the  mark  from  its  form  simply 
fails  to  affect  the  expression  by  which  it  is  followed. ' ' 

First,  is  it  true  that  the  comma  regularly  subordinates? 
As  a  parenthetical  point  it  does,  as  a  compounding  or  series 
mark  it  does  not.  In  earth,  air,  and  sea,  the  commas  show 
that  the  nouns  are  in  series.  In  the  sentence  /  came,  I  saw, 
I  conquered,  the  commas  are  as  truly  coordinating  as  if 
they  were  semicolons. 

Again,  is  it  true  that  the  comma  cannot  "set  off"  a 
word  or  phrase?  When  commas  group  a  parenthesis  like 
however  or  on  the  other  hand,  do  they  not  set  it  off? 

But  the  main  question  is  whether  it  is  true  that  by  virtue 
of  its  form  the  comma  "simply  fails  to  affect  the  expres- 
sion by  which  it  is  followed."  In  all  probability  the  signifi- 
cance of  the  form,  "with  its  tiny  hook  or  curve  leftward," 
has  not  occurred  to  a  fourth  of  those  who  use  the  comma 
with  intelligence.  The  effect  of  the  comma  will  depend  on 
much  more  than  the  shape  of  the  point. 

Like  most  other  marks,  the  comma  is  a  suspension  point 
which  influences  both  preceding  and  following  matter.  Its 
effect  may  be  seen  in  these  examples : 

Napoleon  had  therefore  to  face  now,  not  only  the  cabinets 
of  Europe  and  the  regular  armies  that  they  directed,  but  a  people 


The  Comma  a  Suspensive  JLjk 

who  were  being  organized  to  defend  their  country. — Jaiues 
Harvey  Robinson,  Introduction  to  the  History  of  Western  Eur 
rope,  p.  623. 

They  therefore  promised  England  a  promise,  on  condition  that 
she  broke  a  promise,  and  on  the  implied  condition  that  the  new 
promise  might  be  broken  as  easily  as  the  old  one.  To  the  pro- 
found astonishment  of  Prussia,  this  reasonable  offer  was  refusedl 
— G.  K.  Chesterton,  The  Appetite  of  Tyranny,  p.  25f. 

The  comma  after  now  in  the  example  from  Mr.  Robinson 
emphasizes  the  preceding  words,  but  also  emphasizes  by 
suspension  the  words  which  follow.  In  the  passage  from 
Mr.  Chesterton,  the  first  comma  adds  emphasis  to  the  group 
on  condition  that  she  broke  a  promise.  The  second  comma, 
by  breaking  up  the  close  series  with  and,  makes  both  mem- 
bers of  the  series  more  emphatic.  The  comma  in  the  second 
sentence  of  the  same  passage  is  a  boundary  which  divides 
the  sentence  into  two  groups,  giving  both  parts  more  em- 
phasis by  suspension. 

The  curve  of  the  comma  may  have  some  influence  in 
directing  attention  backward  for  an  instant.  What  con- 
tributes more  to  this  effect  is  the  position  of  the  comma, 
close  to  the  preceding  word  and  divided  by  white  space 
from  the  word  that  follows. 

The  effect  of  the  comma  in  respect  to  the  distribution  of 
emphasis  depends  in  very  slight  degree  on  its  shape  as 
shape,  in  greater  degree  on  its  position  and  the  following 
white  space,  but  far  more  on  its  frequency,  on  the  con- 
text, on  the  grammatical  and  rhetorical  relations  which  the 
customary  uses  of  the  comma  suggest.  A  comma  dividing 
a  sentence  into  two  groups  will  make  both  parts  more 
distinct;  it  cannot  group  one  without  at  the  same  time 
grouping  the  other.  As  a  grouping  and  suspension  mark, 
the  comma  inevitably  affects  the  words  which  follow  it, 
even  though  its  relation  be  primarily  to  those  that  precede. 


208  Modern  Punctuation 


THE  MOST  FREQUENT  OF  THE  POINTS 

In  the  twenty  passages  listed  in  Table  B  (page  249), 
commas  are  the  most  numerous  of  all  the  structural  points, 
their  total  being  9801  as  against  7852  periods  and  2347  of 
all  other  structural  points  put  together.  In  the  twenty 
passages  there  are  only  four  in  which  the  commas  are  out- 
numbered. In  the  aggregate,  commas  represent  49  per  cent 
of  the  structural  points  used,  periods  coming  next  with 
39.26  per  cent,  semicolons  third,  and  dashes  fourth. 

This  frequency  of  the  comma  is  an  argument  rather  for 
careful  than  for  liberal  use.  Light  as  the  comma  is  in 
comparison  with  the  other  points,  it  can  make  writing  awk- 
ward and  formal,  even  when  clear.  The  effect  is  observable 
in  the  following  sentence  from  the  preface  to  a  book  on 
punctuation : 

As  a  sentence  may  contain  the  four  principal  marks  (comma, 
semicolon,  colon,  and  period)  and,  in  addition,  one  or  more  of 
the  other  marks,  a  writer  courts  failure  if,  in  treating  the  diffi- 
cult art  of  punctuation,  he  deals  with  the  marks  separately, 
beginning,  as  all  writers,  myself  included,  have  hitherto  done, 
with  the  comma,  the  most  difficult  mark  to  understand,  and  pro- 
ceeding, one  at  a  time,  with  the  other  marks. 


THE  USES  OF  THE  COMMA 

The  comma  has  the  following  uses,  for  most  of  which 
there  are  alternative  points.  The  comma  is  with  minor 
exceptions  the  lightest  and  most  colorless  mark  for  each 
of  the  uses  named. 

1.  As  a  compounding  point  without  connective,  with  con- 
nective, rarely  with  logical  connective. 


Comma  without  Clause  Link  209 

WITHOUT  CONNECTIVE 

Where  link  words  are  absent,  the  most  frequent  points 
between  successive  statements  are  the  period,  the  semicolon, 
and  the  comma.  The  use  of  the  comma  without  clause 
connective  is  increasing. 

Circumstances  favoring  the  comma  are  brevity  of  parts, 
parallel  structure,  a  lighter  weight  in  the  paragraph  than 
the  semicolon  would  indicate,  climactic  structure,  swift 
paragraph  movement.  Since  much  depends  on  the  mo- 
mentum of  the  passage,  no  safe  rule  can  be  given  in  terms 
of  sentence  length  or  even  structure.  The  comma  without 
clause  connective  is  too  delicate  an  instrument  to  be  used 
by  rule. 

The  .following  passages  are  typical : 

England  alone  remained  outside  the  pale,  England  alone  had 
not  been  brought  to  bend  the  knee  to  the  great  conqueror.  Even 
she  was  breathing  heavily,  because  the  Continental  System  was 
inflicting  terrible  damage  upon  her.  Factories  were  being  forced 
to  shut  down,  multitudes  of  laborers  were  being  thrown  out  of 
work  or  were  receiving  starvation  wages,  riots  and  other  evidences 
of  unrest  and  even  desperation  seemed  to  indicate  that  even  she 
must  soon  come  to  terms. — Charles  Downer  Hazen,  Modern 
European  History,  p.  228f.  [An  entire  paragraph.] 

There  were  many  more  points  of  difference  than  of  similarity 
between  them.  They  spoke  different  languages.  They  belonged 
to  different  religions,  the  Dutch  being  Protestant,  the  Belgians 
Catholic.  They  differed  in  their  economic  life  and  principles. 
The  Dutch  were  an  agricultural  and  commercial  people  and 
inclined  toward  free  trade,  the  Belgians  were  a  manufacturing 
people  and  inclined  toward  protection. — 76.,  p.  281. 

The  last  sentence  of  the  second  passage  is  sufficiently 
pointed  with  the  comma  in  this  context.  Elsewhere  it 
might  be  better  with  the  semicolon. 


210  Modern  Punctuation 

In  the  following  passage  from  page  265  of  the  book  just 
cited,  the  clauses  of  the  second  sentence  are  bound  together 
by  modifiers  in  common: 

Vaccination  and  gas  illumination  were  forbidden  for  the  simple 
reason  that  the  French  had  introduced  them.  In  Piedmont  French 
plants  in  the  Botanic  Gardens  of  Turin  were  torn  up,  French 
furniture  in  the  royal  palace  was  destroyed  in  response  to  this 
vigorous  and  infantile  emotion. 

For  compound  sentences  in  obverse  relation,  with  is  not 
and  is,  the  most  frequent  mark  is  the  semicolon.  But  there 
are  cases  with  the  comma. 

How  can  a  boy  like  such  writing  as  that,  pompous,  inhuman, 
erring  against  every  feeling  of  nature?  The  boy  does  not  like 
it,  he  disregards  it. — John  Macy,  The  Spirit  of  American  Litera- 
ture, p.  37. 

In  the  following  cases  of  what  has  been  called  veiled 
subordination  the  coordinate  relation  is  only  apparent : 

The  truth  is,  were  everything  known  about  good  usage  with 
the  positiveness  with  which  assertions  about  it  are  made,  the 
constant  controversies  which  arise  in  regard  to  it  would  be  a 
simple  impossibility. — Thomas  R.  Lounsbury,  The  Standard  of 
Usage  in  English,  p.  96. 

He  cannot  come  until  Tuesday,  he  tells  me. 

The  compounding  comma  without  connective  requires 
careful  management.  If  not  supported  by  structure  and 
paragraph  movement,  it  is  likely  to  seem  careless  or  illit- 
erate. 

WITH  GRAMMATICAL  CONNECTIVE 

Where  a  grammatical  connective  is  used — the  connectives 
of  this  class  being  and,  but,  for,  or,  nor — the  alternatives 
are  comma,  semicolon,  colon,  dash,  comma  with  dash,  or  no 


Comma  with  Conjunction 

point  at  all.  And  of  course  there  is  always  the  option  of 
making  a  sentence  break.  It  is  sometimes  taught  in  schools 
that  a  sentence  may  not  begin  with  a  grammatical  connec- 
tive; but  ten  minutes'  examination  of  almost  any  modern 
magazine  will  make  it  clear  that  sentences,  even  paragraphs, 
may  begin  with  any  of  the  five  connectives.  For  the  gen- 
eral subject  of  main-clause  pointing,  see  pages  67ff. 

Two-clause  sentences  with  a  grammatical  connective  may 
take  the  comma  under  widely  varying  conditions  of  length 
and  complexity. 

A  small  German  boy  perched  on  the  low  branch  of  a  tree  fell 
off  and  broke  his  arm  on  somebody's  head,  and  it  took  the  driver 
of  an  ambulance  exactly  thirty-two  minutes  to  work  his  vehicle 
three-quarters  of  a  city  block  to  the  spot  where  the  boy  had  fallen. 
— Julian  Ralph,  as  quoted  in  the  New  York  Sun,  May  9,  1918. 

In  this  sentence  the  compounding  comma  happens  to  be  the 
only  interior  point ;  but  there  are  very  numerous  cases  in 
which  the  comma  is  sufficient  even  with  other  commas  in 
one  or  both  of  the  clauses. 

They  consult  each  other,  we  know,  but  it  always  appears  that 
they  do  their  consulting  only  over  some  immediate  question  of 
the  moment,  as  when  France  submitted  to  England  Kaiser  Karl's 
letter  to  Sixtus.— New  York  Times,  June  8,  1918. 

In  a  series  of  three  or  more  clauses  with  a  grammatical 
connective  between  the  last  two  members  but  none  between 
the  others,  it  is  customary  to  use  a  point  before  the  con- 
junction. 

Parties  still  existed,  different  war  policies  were  advocated, 
but  partisanship  in  war  matters  was  abandoned. — The  Outlook, 
April  10, 1918. 

Carelessness  apart,  the  style  with  no  conjunction  (He 
agrees,  I  agree  but  nobody  else  agrees)  is  uncommon  even 


212  Modern  Punctuation 

in  newspapers.  The  no-comma  rule  is  often  applied  to 
predicates  in  series,  seldom  to  full  clauses  with  a  subject 
and  a  verb  for  each  part. 

WITH  LOGICAL  CONNECTIVE 

The  connectives  not  included  in  the  "grammatical"  list 
(the  grammatical  connectives  being  and,  but,  for,  or,  nor} 
ordinarily  take  a  semicolon  or  other  point  superior  to  the 
comma.  The  one  exception  often  made  in  careful  writing 
is  in  the  case  of  yet. 

Spencer  was  rightly  chary  of  random  compliments,  yet  he 
declared  that  he  should  value  Mill's  agreement  more  than  that 
of  any  other  thinker. — John  Morley,  Critical  Miscellanies,  vol. 
IV,  p.  149. 

The  comma  with  any  logical  connective  except  yet  is 
unsafe,  though  sometimes  used  with  so  by  good  writers. 
With  nevertheless,  hence,  therefore,  moreover,  the  points 
most  often  used  are  semicolons  and  periods. 

SUBORDINATE   CLAUSES  OF  MAIN-CLAUSE  RANK 

A  clause  technically  subordinate  may  be  virtually  a  main 
clause.  This  is  notably  true  of  relative  clauses  (with  rela- 
tive adverb  or  pronoun)  at  the  end  of  the  sentence. 

And  in  our  modern  practice  a  stop  is  often  omissible  at  the 
end  of  a  line  because  of  the  break,  whereas  it  would  be  essential 
to  clearness  if  the  final  word  of  one  line  and  the  first  of  the 
succeeding  stood  close  together. — Wendell  Phillips  Garrison, 
"A  Dissolving  View  of  Punctuation,"  Atlantic  Monthly,  August, 
1906. 

2.  As  a  series  point,  separating  modifiers  of  the  same  noun, 
subjects  of  the  same  verb,  or  verbs  belonging  to  the  same 


The  Series  Comma  213 

subject.  The  groups  may  vary  from  single  words  to  long 
subordinate  clauses.  (Sentences  and  main  clauses  may  be 
said  to  be  in  series,  but  such  cases  are  best  included  under 
sentence  and  main-clause  pointing.)  Repetition  may  be 
a  kind  of  series,  though  shading  into  apposition.  Series 
may  be  suspended,  with  or  without  commas,  as  when  the 
antithetical  correlatives  not  and  but  are  employed. 

The  appearance  without  the  reality  of  series  exists  in 
such  expressions  as  big  British  transport.  Big  and  British 
are  not  rhetorically  coordinate,  the  first  adjective  being  a 
modifier  of  the  noun  group  British  transport.  But  where 
one  writes  the  humbugging,  treacherous  talk  about  no 
annexations,  the  adjectives  are  coordinate  members  of  a 
series  properly  pointed  with  the  comma. 

Commas  may  be  required  between  members  of  a  series  for 
clearness,  especially  when  the  relations  are  not  made  clear 
throughout  by  conjunctions.  They  may  be  used  for 
emphasis  even  with  conjunctions  present.  It  is  impossible 
to  frame  rigid  and  at  the  same  time  safe  rules. 

It  is  not  very  unusual  to  find  open  series  without  con- 
junction. A  pure  cold  halo  about  him,  a  fine  fat  specimen, 
the  thin  gray  line — these  are  cases  of  series  which  commas 
would  not  help. 

With  conjunction  present,  there  can  be  no  fixed  rule. 
The  emphasis  properly  given  to  a  series  or  any  part  of  it 
will  depend  on  its  importance  in  the  paragraph — a  matter 
for  determination  by  cases. 

The  following  examples  are  typical  cases  of  comma  point- 
ing between  members  of  series: 

The  truth  of  the  matter,  as  Mr.  Chesterton  would  say,  is,  first, 
that  writing,  along  with  speaking,  eating,  sleeping,  putting  on 
clothes,  and  coming  out  of  the  rain,  is  one  of  the  great  universal 
acts  of  modern  life.— William  Tenney  Brewster,  Writing  English 
Prose,  p.  7. 


214  Modern  Punctuation 

It  is,  in  our  view,  the  province  of  the  Government  to  see  to  it 
that  businesses  are  conducted  honestly,  and  in  a  way  compatible 
with  good  morals  and  the  public  welfare. — George  Harvey,  in  the 
North  American  Review,  January,  1918. 

The  comma  before  the  first  and  in  the  last  example  makes 
the  members  of  the  series  more  distinct. 

In  the  case  of  triads  and  longer  series  with  a  conjunc- 
tion between  the  last  two  members  but  not  between  the 
others,  the  customary  textbook  rule  is  to  use  the  comma 
before  the  conjunction,  according  to  this  style:  The  Cen- 
tral Powers  include  Germany,  Austria-Hungary,  Bulgaria, 
and  Turkey.  But  the  ordinary  though  not  unanimous 
practice  in  newspapers  is  to  omit  the  last  comma,  a  prac- 
tice followed  also  by  some  magazines  and  many  books. 
The  following  sentence  uses  what  may  be  called  the 
newspaper  style. 

But  it  is  with  equal  earnestness  to  be  hoped  that  both  Govern- 
ment and  people  will  regard  these  extraordinary  measures  as  war 
measures,  which  ought  to  lapse  with  the  -war  and  to  be  replaced 
with  a  private  control  which  will  be  just  as  honest,  just  as 
economical  and  just  as  efficient  as  that  of  the  Government. — 
North  American  Review,  January,  1918. 

Though  the  style  with  comma  before  the  conjunction  has 
the  weight  of  textbook  authority  and  of  careful  usage,  the 
weight  of  majority  practice — of  good,  bad,  and  indifferent 
work  which  gets  into  print — is  apparently  tending  toward 
the  no-comma  style. 

The  style  with  the  full  equipment  of  commas  will  give 
clear  grouping,  with  the  risk  of  awkward  movement  or 
misplaced  emphasis.  The  newspaper  style  is  not  so  safe 
in  respect  to  clearness,  and  if  carelessly  handled  is  as 
clumsy  in  its  way  as  the  use  of  the  comma  may  be  in 
another  way. 


Series  Styles  215 

We  have  been  requested  to  ask  our  passengers  to  throw  news- 
papers, wrappers  from  chewing  gum  and  candy  and  other  refuse 
into  the  receptacles  on  Station  platforms^ — Bulletin  in  a  New 
York  subway  train. 

The  effect  is  a  coordination  of  candy  with  oilier  refuse. 

In  this  sentence  from  Mr.  L.  A.  Sherman's  Analytics 
of  Literature  (p.  ix),  the  no-comma  style  would  be  ruinous: 

We  may  weigh,  compare,  and  accept  or  reject,  but  must  first 
have  impressions  or  judgments  of  our  own,  or  we  shall  be  deal- 
ing with  unknown  quantities. 

One  thing  is  certain.  In  writing  for  a  newspaper  which 
uses  the  open  style,  as  in  food,  sliips  and  guns,  the  obvious 
thing  is  to  avoid  series  structure  with  one  conjunction 
whenever  the  open  style  would  be  awkward.  Compositors 
who  believe  that  a  conjunction  bars  the  comma  believe  it 
with  all  their  hearts. 

A  convenient  way  to  avoid  the  difficulty — and  lighten 
style — is  to  manage  series  informally  without  conjunctions. 

During  all  this  period  Metternich  was  the  chief  minister.  His 
system,  at  war  with  human  nature,  at  war  with  the  modern  spirit, 
rested  upon  a  meddlesome  police,  upon  elaborate  espionage, 
upon  a  vigilant  censorship  of  ideas.  Censorship  was  applied  to 
theaters,  newspapers,  books.  The  frontiers  were  guarded  that 
foreign  books  of  a  liberal  character  might  not  slip  in  to  corrupt. 
Political  science  and  history  practically  disappeared  as  serious 
studies.  Spies  were  everywhere,  in  government  offices,  in  places 
of  amusement,  in  educational  institutions.  Particularly  did  this 
government  fear  the  universities,  because  it  feared  ideas. — Charles 
Downer  Hazen,  Modern  European  History,  p.  258. 

If  series  conjunctions  were  used  in  the  second  and  third 
sentences  of  the  passage,  the  style  would  be  made  heavy 
but  no  clearer. 


216  Modern  Punctuation 

COMMA  AT  END  OF  SERIES 

The  end  of  a  series  may  be  pointed  or  open,  according 
to  requirements  of  clearness.  The  expression  dull,  aching, 
loneliness — quoted  from  Mr.  Harold  Bell  Wright,  who  uses 
this  pointing  repeatedly — looks  like  a  series  of  three  mem- 
bers, instead  of  what  it  is,  a  noun  modified  by  a  series  of 
two  adjectives.  The  omission  of  the  comma  would  make  the 
expression  conform  to  the  style  customary  for  so  short  a 
series,  and  make  the  meaning  clear.  Possibly  the  comma  is 
meant  as  a  rhythmical  point  after  the  Elizabethan  manner. 

In  short  groups  like  careful,  deliberate  study,  usage  is 
clearly  in  favor  of  omitting  the  series-end  comma.  On  the 
other  hand,  consistency  yields  to  utility  whenever  point- 
ing is  necessary  to  clearness. 

Different  in  kind  from  the  printed  symbols  which  denote  the 
word,  phrase,  and  sentence,  any  point  creates  a  momentary  re- 
straint of  attention,  a  pause  which  may  not  be  in  the  least  percepti- 
ble, but  in  which  the  preceding  meaning  tends  to  repeat  and  enforce 
itself. — Constance  M.  Rourke,  The  Rationale  of  Punctuation. 

Or  can  we  read  between  the  lines  of  the  war  news,  diplomatic 
disputations,  threats  and  accusations,  political  wranglings  and 
stories  of  hardship  and  cruelty  that  now  fill  our  papers,  any- 
thing that  still  justifies  a  hope  that  these  bitter  years  of  world 
sorrow  are  the  darkness  before  the  dawn  of  a  better  day  for 
mankind?— H.  G.  Wells,  What  Is  Coming?  (p.  9). 

SUSPENDED  SERIES  WITH  COMMA 

The  emphatic  device  of  series  suspension,  sometimes 
useful  but  often  injurious  to  good  movement,  is  employed 
in  the  following  sentences : 

Besides,  or  rather  contained  within,  a  nation  are  many  smaller 
crowds  geographically  defined. — Sir  Martin  Conway,  The  Crowd 
in  Peace  and  War,  p.  6. 


Commas  for  Series-Suspension  217 

Shaw  is  an  isolated,  not  to  say  eccentric,  figure,  even  for  a 
Socialist. — Edwin  E.  Slosson,  Six  Major  Prophets,  p.  23. 

The  approach  of  the  present  anniversary  has  revived  to  a 
notable  extent  interest  in  Calvin's  dominating,  but  perplexing, 
personality. — Ephraim  Emerton,  in  the  New  York  Evening  Post, 
July  10,  1909. 

The  first  sentence  has  what  are  called  suspended  particles. 
In  the  second  there  is  suspension  emphasizing  the  adjec- 
tives isolated  and  eccentric,  with  incidental  suspension  upon 
figure.  In  the  third  sentence  the  suspension  has  an  inju- 
rious effect  on  the  cadence. 

With  a  series  linked  by  the  correlatives  not  and  but 
there  may  or  may  not  be  pointing,  the  open  style  being 
more  rapid  and  the  comma  style  more  emphatic. 

If  there  is  any  ground  whatever  for  just  criticism  of  the 
Governor's  message  of  night  before  last  it  is  not  that  he  has 
exceeded  his  power  or  prerogatives,  but  rather  that  he  has  risked 
exceeding  the  time  limit  of  opportunity  by  delaying  so  long  the 
warning  and  the  intimation. — The  New  York  Sun  (editorial), 
March  20,  1918. 

They  must  convince  not  an  impartial  jury  but  a  jury  packed 
against  them. — From  a  New  York  newspaper. 

Wording  which  permits  series-suspension  commas  may 
often  be  better  without  them. 

Elizabeth's  first  Parliament  gave  to  the  queen  the  power  though 
not  the  title  of  supreme  head  of  the  English  church. — James 
Harvey  Robinson,  Introduction  to  the  History  of  Western 
Europe,  p.  549. 

3.  With  modifying,  preliminary,  parenthetical,  or  after- 
thought matter,  including  appositives.  For  the  options  in 
the  pointing  of  such  elements,  see  pages  85ff. 


218  Modern  Punctuation 

The  comma  is  used  singly  or  in  pairs,  according  to  the 
position  of  the  group.  Groups  to  be  pointed  (with  commas 
or  other  marks)  are  in  general  those  not  required  for  struc- 
ture or  definition.  Expressions  of  indeterminate  character 
are  pointed  or  left  open  according  to  requirements  of  dis- 
tinctness and  movement. 

Senator  Henry  Cabot  Lodge,  of  Massachusetts.  (Alternative 
style:  Senator  Henry  Cabot  Lodge  of  Massachusetts.) 

John  Fox,  Jr.  (Alternative:  John  Fox  Jr.) 

He  [Lowell]  began  his  career  with  some  slight  verses,  sincere 
in  thought  and  not  unskilful,  though  technically  stiff  and  hasty 
with  the  haste  that  betrays  itself. — John  Macy,  The  Spirit  of 
American  Literature,  p.  189. 

Being  human,  he  longs  to  see  the  results  of  his  labors. — S.  M. 
Crothers,  The  Pleasures  of  an  Absentee  Landlord,  p.  29. 

The  railroads,  which  had  been  vastly  enlarged  and  enriched  by 
the  war,  pushed  everywhere  now  with  marvelous  rapidity;  great 
industries,  like  the  new  oil  industry,  sprang  into  wealth  and 
power. — Fred  Lewis  Pattee,  A  History  of  American  Literature 
since  1870,  p.  5. 

Adverbial  modifiers  are  treated  like  adjective  elements, 
but  are  more  likely  to  be  of  indeterminate  character, 
pointed  or  open  according  to  the  writer's  purpose. 

An  adverbial  clause  at  the  beginning  of  a  sentence  will 
usually  but  not  always  take  the  comma. 

Now  that  the  bulk  of  straight  matter  is  set  on  machines, 
employers  find  it  to  their  advantage  to  have  copy  revised  by  the 
proofreader  before  setting.— Frank  S.  Henry,  Printing  for 
School  and  Shop,  p.  50. 

An  adverbial  group  following  a  conjunction  at  the  begin- 
ning of  sentence  or  clause  may  be  open,  or  pointed  at  the 
end,  or  set  off  with  two  points. 


Comma  with  Adverbial  Group  219 

With  the  shadow  of  its  failure  falling  and  Russia  getting  ready 
to  advance,  the  Reichstag  was  instructed  to  pass  bogus  peace 
resolutions.  But  when  Russia  collapsed  the  resolutions  were 
forgotten,  and  von  Hindenburg  was  lifted  to  Valhalla. — New 
York  Globe  (editorial),  March  16,  1918. 

But  if  the  host  of  American  radicals  whom  Jefferson  led  and 
whose  spirit  he  so  truly  interpreted  were  forgetful  of  the  prac- 
tical friendship  of  French  Royalty  in  our  hour  of  need,  American 
conservatives,  among  whom  Marshall  was  developing  leadership, 
were  also  unmindful  of  the  dark  crimes  against  the  people  which, 
at  an  earlier  period,  had  stained  the  Monarchy  of  France  and 
gradually  cast  up  the  account  that  brought  on  the  inevitable 
settlement  of  the  Revolution. — A.  J.  Beveridge,  Life  of  John 
Marshall,  vol.  II,  p.  32. 

The  style  with  two  commas  (Yet,  under  present  condi- 
tions, I  am  uncertain)  converts  the  modifier  into  a  paren- 
thesis, and  strongly  affects  the  movement. 

Commas  are  often  used  to  set  off  such  preliminary  expres- 
sions as  vocatives,  absolute  phrases,  exclamations,  transi- 
tional phrases. 

Why,  that  is  the  same  one. 

Yes,  I  agree  with  you. 

Oh,  I  see. 

On  the  other  hand,  Hebert  the  leader  of  the  commune  felt 
that  the  revolution  was  not  yet  complete. — James  Harvey  Robin- 
son, Introduction  to  the  History  of  Western  Europe,  p.  589. 

Parenthetical  matter  enclosed  by  commas  may  range  from 
a  word  to  a  clause.  For  the  alternative  points  see  pages 
106ff. 

In  the  same  year,  1789,  that  the  American  Republic  began  its 
career  under  the  forms  of  a  National  Government,  the  curtain 
rose  in  France  on  that  tremendous  drama  which  will  forever 
engage  the  interest  of  mankind. — A.  J.  Beveridge,  Life  of  John 
Marshall,  vol.  II,  p.  2. 


220  Modern  Punctuation 

The  commas  enclosing  the  date  1789  make  *„  an  ordinary 
appositive  rather  than  a  light  parenthesis.  In  this  use, 
though  hardly  any  other,  commas  are  more  obtrusive  than 
curves.  For  parenthetical  clauses  like  it  is  said  or  /  have 
no  doubt,  commas  are  much  lighter  than  curves,  the  curves 
being  theoretically  light  but  actually  formal  or  self-con- 
scious. 

These  things,  alas,  were  an  allegory. — G.  K.  Chesterton,  The 
Crimes  of  England,  p.  108. 

He  blushed  like  a  maid,  bless  his  tender  heart,  and  in  his  sweet 
confusion  he  knew  that  I  knew  it. — Vachel  Lindsay,  A  Handy 
Guide  for  Beggars,  p.  86. 

Perhaps,  indeed,  we  did  not  have  a  democracy  at  all  during  the 
early  decades  of  the  nineteenth  century. — William  Allen  White, 
The  Old  Order  Chang eth,  p.  1. 

Matter  which  would  be  called  preliminary  or  paren- 
thetical if  at  the  beginning  or  embedded  within  the  sen- 
tence may  be  called  "afterthought"  matter  whenever 
placed  at  the  end.  Comma-pointed  afterthoughts  may  be 
clause  tags,  like  it  is  said,  or  modifiers.  Afterthoughts 
are  emphatic  by  both  position  and  suspension. 

In  the  following  sentences  the  afterthought  elements 
are  technically  appositives  or  modifiers. 

But  Hawthorne,  fortunately,  was  a  mildly  irreverent  man, 
charmed  by  the  colours  of  things,  and  somewhat  sceptical  of  the 
intense  beliefs  of  his  contemporaries. — John  Macy,  The  Spirit 
of  American  Literature,  p.  84. 

Mrs.  Ballinger  is  one  of  the  ladies  who  pursue  Culture  in  bands, 
as  though  it  were  dangerous  to  meet  alone. — Edith  Wharton, 
Xingu,  p.  3. 

4.  Before  a  quotation,  or  to  mark  the  interruption  or 
resumption  of  a  quotation.  For  the  omission  of  points  and 


Comma  with  Quotation  221 

the  use  of  points  other  than  the  comma,  see  pages  152ff., 
154f. 

The  following  are  typical  cases  with  the  comma : 

It  asked  eagerly  of  every  foreign  visitor,  "And  what  do  you 
think  of  us?"  and  when  the  answer,  as  in  the  case  of  Moore  or 
Marryat  or  Dickens,  was  critical,  it  flew  into  a  passion. — Fred 
Lewis  Pattee,  A  History  of  American  Literature  since  1870,  p.  8. 

"Get  hold  of  a  dramatic  American  theme,"  he  counsels  Taylor, 
"merely  for  policy's  sake.  The  people  want  Neo-Americanism ; 
we  must  adopt  their  system  and  elevate  it." — Ib.,  p.  16. 

Quoted  phrases  in  series  may  be  treated  like  other  mem- 
bers of  series.  In  the  following  case  commas  are  the  natural 
points  to  use : 

His  fondness  for  the  big  or  unusual  words  and  phrases 
"empyrean,"  "nadir,"  "capriccio,"  "cui  bono,"  "coup  d'etat," 
shows  that  he  has  been  to  a  feast  of  languages  and  stolen  the 
scraps. — Cited  in  Theodore  L.  De  Vinne's  Correct  Composition, 
p.  215. 

Before  a  quotation  the  comma  is  lighter  and  less  formal 
than  the  colon.  If  the  quotation  is  short  and  not  formally 
heralded,  the  comma  is  usually  appropriate. 

5.  For  special  grouping.  The  comma  is  sometimes  used 
for  suspension  or  clearness  even  when  the  structural  rela- 
tion is  close,  as  between  subject  and  verb  or  between  verb 
and  complement. 

The  end  of  a  long  series  subject  is  often  marked  by  the 
comma  without  awkwardness;  but  otherwise  a  comma 
between  subject  and  verb  is  likely  to  be  felt  as  a  piece  of 
formality.  If  a  comma  is  needed  for  clearness,  the  fact  may 
suggest  need  of  revision. 

That  the  undertone  of  quiet  confidence  in  the  outcome  of  the 
European  battle — which  was  so  notable  an  incident  of  last  week's 


222  Modern  Punctuation 

financial  markets — should  have  been  in  evidence  again  to-day, 
was  not  surprising,  in  the  light  of  the  news  since  Saturday. — New 
York  Evening  Post,  April  1,  1918. 

The  first  comma  is  necessary  only  because  the  subject  is 
overelaborate. 

According  to  a  textbook  rule  still  current  the  infinitive- 
phrase  subject  of  the  following  sentence  should  end  with  a 
comma.  As  a  matter  of  fact  a  comma  would  be  worse  than 
useless. 

To  indulge  in  elaborate  and  pompous  rhetorical  flourishes  in 
the  last  paragraphs  is  likely  to  be  as  painful  to  the  reader  as 
it  is  for  a  hostess  to  have  a  caller  stand  in  the  doorway  on  a  cold 
winter  day  for  several  minutes  after  she  should  have  taken  her 
leave. — Percy  H.  Boynton,  Principles  of  Composition,  p.  45. 

In  the  following  sentence  the  comma  separates  the  verb 
from  its  preceding  object : 

The  harmony  which  the  old  religion  had  failed  to  establish  in 
space  and  in  Nature,  the  new  sought  to  establish  in  history  and  in 
time. — George  Santayana,  Poetry  and  Religion,  p.  74. 

THE  "  ELLIPSIS  "   COMMA 

For  the  sake  of  rapidity,  modern  writing  omits  many 
verbs  which  an  elder  generation  would  have  held  useful. 

His  views  may  have  been  one-sided,  his  protest  against  con- 
vention exaggerated,  his  emphasizing  of  the  trivial  itself  a  man- 
nerism.— T.  S.  Omond,  The  Romantic  Triumph,  p.  26. 

The  two  Balkan  wars  cost  heavily  in  human  life  and  in  treasure. 
Turkey  and  Bulgaria  each  lost  over  150,000  in  killed  and  wounded, 
Servia  over  70,000,  Greece  nearly  as  many,  little  Montenegro 
over  10,000. — Charles  Downer  Hazen,  Modern  European  History, 
p.  606. 


Comma  for  "Ellipsis"  223 

The  tradition  that  ellipsis  of  the  verb  requires  to  be 
acknowledged  with  a  comma  is  fundamentally  wrong.  In 
the  sentences  from  Mr.  Omond  and  Mr.  Hazen,  commas 
would  be  not  merely  unnecessary  but  ruinous.  The  old 
rule  is  properly  associated  with  sentences  of  the  following 
kind,  the  specimen  being  borrowed  from  a  manual  of  punc- 
tuation : 

The  benevolent  man  is  esteemed;  the  pernicious,  condemned. 

In  many  cases  of  what  is  called  ellipsis  of  the  verb,  the 
comma  is  unnecessary.  In  most  cases  where  useful,  the 
comma  is  merely  a  grouping  signal. 

For  the  sake  of  clearness,  commas  may  be  used  between 
dates  or  names.  In  May  7,  1915,  or  Louisville,  Kentucky, 
or  150,000,  and  in  such  a  sentence  as  In  chapter  3,  30 
errors  have  been  detected,  the  commas  are  used  for  clear 
grouping,  not  to  acknowledge  ellipsis.  The  date  style  on 
the  10th  December  1623,  not  uncommon  in  British  books, 
is  clear  without  a  comma. 

In  this  sentence  a  comma  is  needed  for  clearness,  because 
without  it  the  adverb  before  might  be  mistaken  for  a  con- 
junction : 

But  not  long  before,  the  flogging  of  women  by  an  Austrian 
general  led  to  that  officer  being  thrashed  in  the  streets  of  London 
by  Barclay  and  Perkins'  draymen. — G.  K.  Chesterton,  The 
Appetite  of  Tyranny,  p.  18. 

In  the  sentence  following,  the  comma  is  a  suspensive 
mark  making  still  an  emphatic  preliminary: 

Still,  his  contribution  has  been  for  the  most  part  a  negative 
one.— Barrett  H.  Clark,  The  British  and  American  Drama  of 

To-day,  p.  77. 


224  Modern  Punctuation 

6.  The  comma  is  often  used  to  reinforce  the  dash,  the 
combination  being  used  singly  or  in  pairs.    An  account  of 
this  combination  is  given  on  page  233  below. 

7.  Miscellaneous  and  mechanical  uses.    Before  the  abbre- 
viation etc.  the  comma  is  specified  by  some   authorities 
as  being  always  necessary.     So  general  a  rule  is  illogical, 
but  has  the  weight  of  usage. 

After  the  expressions  e.  g.,  i.  e.,  s.  v.,  a  comma  is  regu- 
larly used  in  some  offices ;  but  the  open  style  has  at  least  an 
equal  weight  of  authority,  besides  being  lighter  and  more 
logical.  The  matter  following  such  an  expression  is  ordi- 
narily in  restrictive  apposition. 

The  use  of  the  comma  as  a  paragraph  point,  similar  to 
the  paragraph  semicolon  (see  page  54),  is  very  infrequent, 
as  it  should  be.  Where  matter  is  put  into  outline  form  the 
usual  division  mark  is  the  period. 

THE  COMMA  WITH  OTHER  POINTS 

The  comma  rarely  combines  with  other  points  except 
curves,  brackets,  the  dash,  and  quote  marks.  For  its  use 
with  the  dash  see  page  233  below ;  for  comma  with  curves  (the 
same  rule  holding  for  comma  with  brackets),  see  page  238. 

The  usual  American  rule  for  the  comma  with  an  end- 
quote  is  to  let  the  comma  precede  under  all  circumstances ; 
but  there  are  frequent  deviations  from  this  rule  either 
intended  or  inadvertent.  Where  the  comma  occurs  with 
a  single  quote,  some  of  the  best  printers  prefer  to  arrange 
the  points  according  to  the  meaning.  Others  prefer  the 
fixed  order,  with  the  comma  first.  (See  pages  156,  159f.) 

VII.    THE  DASH 

The  name  dash  when  used  without  qualification  means  in 
this  chapter,  as  above,  the  ordinary  em  dash.  In  addition 


The  Nature  of  the  Dash  225 

to  the  em  dash  printers  have  the  en  dash  and  dashes  of 
two-em  and  three-em  length.  Long  dashes  are  rare  in  text 
matter  save  for  ellipsis  or  broken  sentences. 

The  dash  has  been  described  as  the  interruption,  the 
mark  of  abruptness,  the  sob,  the  stammer,  the  mark  of 
unutterable  emotion,  and  the  mark  of  ignorance.  The  last 
name  records  the  fact  that  many  mistake  the  dash  for  a 
general-utility  mark  to  be  requisitioned  on  all  occasions. 
In  respect  to  frequency  the  dash  is  one  of  the  first  four 
points  in  ordinary  text  matter,  the  other  three  being  comma, 
period,  semicolon.  Dean  Alford's  opinion  that  the  dash 
" should  never  be  admitted  if  it  can  be  helped"  is  extreme, 
like  some  of  his  other  opinions. 

The  dash  is  an  abrupt  or  emphatic  mark,  character- 
istically employed  to  mark  interruption,  suspension,  or 
sudden  turn.  It  is  nearer  akin  to  the  comma  than  to  any 
other  of  the  marks,  being  used  singly  or  in  pairs,  between 
members  either  coordinate  or  of  different  rank,  and  with 
a  variety  of  constructions.  But  unlike  the  comma  it  is  a 
strong  point,  with  a  characteristic  flavor  in  spite  of  its 
versatility. 

The  dash,  either  singly  or  in  pairs,  and  often  reinforced 
with  the  comma,  is  employed  for  the  following  uses : 

1.  To  group  words  for  special  emphasis,  or  to  indicate 
hesitation,  interruption,  incompletion,  suspension  or  release 
of  suspension,  shift  of  structure,  or  emphatic  repetition. 

The  dash  as  a  mark  of  incompletion  may  be  used  as  a 
sentence  point,  or  as  a  means  of  paragraph  suspension. 

"My  young  friends,"  he  says,  "I  hope  and  trust  that  my  words 
may  be  the  means  of  saving  you  from  much  of  the  heartache 
and  sorrow  of  this  world.  When  I  was  young — " — Meredith 
Nicholson,  The  Provincial  American  and  Other  Papers,  p.  93. 

Article  46  reads  like  a  ghastly  satire.    It  provides  that  in  oecu- 


226  Modern  Punctuation 

pied  territories,  such  as  Germany  and  her  allies  now  hold  in 
Belgium,  France,  Poland,  Serbia,  Rumania,  and  Montenegro — 

Family  honor  and  rights,  the  lives  of  persons,  and  private 
property,  as  well  as  religious  convictions  and  practice,  must  be 
respected.  Private  property  cannot  be  confiscated. 

The  preceding  example  is  from  the  New  York  Times  of 
February  11, 1918,  the  suspended  paragraph  being  a  quota- 
tion in  reduced  type. 

In  the  following  examples  the  dash  is  a  mark  of  suspen- 
sion or  shift  within  the  limits  of  the  sentence : 

After  these — that  brace  of  reprobates,  Byron  and  Shelley. — A. 
E.  Hancock,  John  Keats,  p.  5. 

The  patriarchs  from  Adam  down,  the  kings  and  prophets,  the 
creation,  Eden,  the  deluge,  the  deliverance  out  of  Egypt,  the 
thunders  and  the  law  of  Sinai,  the  temple,  the  exile — all  this  and 
much  more  that  fills  the  Bible  was  a  rich  fund,  a  familiar  tra- 
dition living  in  the  Church,  on  which  Dante  could  draw,  as  he 
drew  at  the  same  time  from  the  parallel  classic  tradition  which 
he  also  inherited. — George  Santayana,  Three  Philosophical  Poets, 
p.  83. 

The  dash  in  the  last  sentence,  technically  an  appositive 
point,  is  used  to  effect  a  shift  of  structure.  In  the  follow- 
ing sentence  the  dash  marks  a  case  of  repetition  with 
addition : 

Why  should  not  the  workers  have  the  privilege  for  their  sons 
that  belongs  by  mere  good  fortune  to  the  wealthier  classes — the 
privilege  of  a  training  that  will  give  them  greater  health,  greater 
knowledge  and  technical  skill,  better  habits,  more  self-respect, 
and  the  power  as  well  as  the  inclination  to  defend  their  country 
if  need  be? — John  Galsworthy,  A  Sheaf,  p.  347. 

2.  To  mark  the  ellipsis  of  a  word  or  less  than  a  word, 
for  concealment  or  delicacy  either  actual  or  formal.  The 


Compounding  and  Series  Dash  227 

concealment  dash  is  used  in  the  form  Mr.  M for  Mr. 

Morlcy.  The  euphemistic  dash,  presumably  without  any 
genuine  attempt  at  concealment,  is  used  in  d — n  or  in 
What  the  d — I  do  you  mean?  The  length  of  the  ellipsis 
dash  is  governed  by  office  rules. 

3.  As  a  compounding  point,  usually  with  the  effect  of 
suggesting  an  appositive  relation  between  clauses  or  else 
an  unexpected  turn  of  thought. 

Notified  that  the  Kaiser  is  to  say  something  pathetic  and  his- 
toric at  1:30  P.  M.  on  a  hillock  near  Queant,  to  the  west  of 
Cambrai,  Mr.  Rosner  repairs  thither.  He  finds  the  Kaiser  in  the 
correct  attitude,  looking  mournfully  down  upon  the  battlefield, 
his  staff  disposed  properly,  some  at  L.,  some  at  R.,  some  at  L. 
U.  E.,  one  alongside  him — necessarily,  for  the  Kaiser  cannot 
utter  the  historic  and  pathetic  saying  unless  he  has  somebody 
to  utter  it  to. — New  York  Times  (editorial),  May  23,  1918. 

Before  the  clause  link  in  the  second  sentence  the  point  is 
a  comma ;  but  the  actual  clause  break  is  made  by  the  dash. 
In  the  following  sentence  the  second  clause  is  in  apposition 
with  the  first. 

The  answer  came  to  me  in  a  flash  as  I  turned  away  from 
Fuller  Place, — Clark's  field  no  longer  existed. — Robert  Herrick, 
Clark's  Field,  p.  6. 

4.  As  a  series  point,  usually  with  the  effect  of  empha- 
sizing the  members  sharply.     The  series  dash  commonly 
suggests  an  appositive  or  parenthetical  relation. 

A  young  woman  of  social  prominence  printed  some  verses  in 
an  Indianapolis  newspaper,  and  one  of  her  acquaintances,  when 
asked  for  his  opinion  of  them,  said  they  were  creditable  and  ought 
to  be  set  to  music — and  played  as  an  instrumental  piece! — 
Meredith  Nicholson,  The  Provincial  American  and  Other  Papers, 
p.  81. 


228  Modern  Punctuation 

In  the  sentence  cited  from  Mr.  Nicholson  the  dash  marks 
an  unexpected  turn  in  the  series,  with  the  effect  of  empha- 
sizing the  succeeding  clause.  In  the  following  sentence, 
from  an  editorial  in  the  North  American  Review  (February, 
1918),  the  dashes  enclose  a  group  in  suspended  or  paren- 
thetical series: 

When  one  government  succeeds  another,  by  revolution  or  other- 
wise, it  assumes  all  the  powers  of  its  predecessor,  and  it  should — 
in  our  antiquated  view,  it  must — equally  incur  all  its  predeces- 
sor's responsibilities,  diplomatic  and  pecuniary. 

At  the  end  of  a  series  in  a  periodic  sentence  the  dash 
often  serves  to  mark  the  turning  point  in  the  sentence,  just 
before  the  release  of  suspension.  Examples  of  this  use, 
which  is  a  mixture  of  appositional  with  series  and  suspen- 
sion pointing,  are  given  on  pages  226  and  230.  To  group 
a  series  of  modifiers  the  dash  is  often  the  most  conven- 
ient point.  Examples  are  given  in  the  following  division 
of  this  section. 

5.  To  set  off  preliminary,  parenthetical,  or  afterthought 
matter,  and  also  modifiers,  including  appositives.  For  the 
sum  of  these  uses  the  principal  other  mark  is  the  comma ; 
but  for  parenthetical  matter  curves  are  often  the  nearest 
alternatives,  and  in  cases  of  emphatic  apposition  there  is 
often  difficulty  in  deciding  between  dash  and  colon. 

For  preliminary  matter: 

Note  to  all  the  editors — "What  did  you  play  up  that  dash 
story  for?  .  .  ." — Don  C.  Seitz,  Training  for  the  Newspaper 
Trade,  p.  57f.  [The  word  dash  is  a  euphemism  for  which  an 
ellipsis  dash  or  the  word  blank  or  blanked  might  be  substituted.] 

After  salutations  of  letters  "run  in"  (in  the  same  para- 
graph with  following  matter)  a  dash  or  comma  with  dash 


Parenthetical  Dashes  229 

may  be  used.    A  much  more  frequent  style  is  to  give  the 
salutation  a  line  to  itself  and  point  it  with  colon. 

Sometimes  at  the  beginning  of  numbered  sections  or 
after  the  names  of  dramatis  personae  dashes  are  used  in 
place  of  the  more  frequent  periods: 

First — That  the  packers  maintained  stock  yards  in  different 
cities  in  an  effort  to  hold  down  prices  paid  producers.  .  .  . 

Second — That  there  was  an  agreement  in  effect  among  the 
packers  prorating  the  amount  of  live  stock  any  one  of  them  could 
buy  in  any  market. 

Young  wife   (distractedly) — "Oh,  John,  John!  that  fat  cook 

you  sent  up  from  the  agency "     Husband — "Yes,  what's  the 

matter?"     "She's   got  wedged   in   the   kitchenette,   and   I   can't 
get  her  out!" — New  York  Evening  Post,  with  credit  to  Judge. 

The  most  frequent  point  for  preliminary  matter  is  the 
comma. 

For  very  brief  incidental  parentheses  curves  are  the 
lightest  points;  for  light  parentheses  not  so  incidental  as 
page  references  or  the  like,  the  most  usual  marks  are  com- 
mas. Dashes  are  seldom  used  by  careful  writers  for  light 
parenthetical  matter,  because  emphatic  points.  They  are 
useful  rather  for  parenthetical  clauses  which  would  be  too 
light  with  commas  and  too  formal  with  curves,  for  emphatic 
parenthetical  phrases,  and  for  parenthetical  groups  con- 
taining commas. 

Again,  if  you  hear  a  man  talking  overmuch  of  brotherly  love 
and  that  sort  of  thing — I  do  not  mean  the  hypocrite,  but  the 
sincere  humanitarian  whom  you  and  I  have  met  and  had  dealings 
with  and  could  name — if  you  hear  such  a  man  talking  overmuch 
of  serving  his  fellows,  you  are  pretty  sure  that  here  is  a  man 
who  will  be  slippery  or  dishonourable  in  his  personal  trans- 
actions.— Paul  Elmer  More,  Aristocracy  and  Justice,  p.  143f. 

But  we  have  a  sure  monitor  of  the  will  to  act  righteously  in 


230  Modern  Punctuation 

the  present  feeling  of  happiness  or  misery,  and  we  have  a  hope — 
a  divine  illusion  it  may  be,  for  it  has  never  among  men  been 
verified  by  experience — that  in  some  way  and  at  some  time 
happiness  and  pleasure  shall  be  completely  reconciled  by  Nature, 
who,  by  mysterious  deviations  beyond  our  mortal  ken,  is  herself 
also  a  servant  of  the  law  of  justice. — Ib.,  p.  115f. 

In  each  of  these  there  is  a  comma  or  pair  of  commas  within 
the  group  enclosed  by  the  dashes.  In  the  following  sen- 
tence, from  page  5  of  the  same  book,  the  dashes  enclose  a 
parenthetical  appositive  group: 

Plato  wrestled  with  it  when  he  undertook  to  outline  the  ideal 
republic,  and  many  of  his  pages  on  the  range  of  government 
through  its  five  forms — aristocracy,  timocracy,  oligarchy,  demo- 
cracy, and  tyranny — sound  as  if  he  had  been  reading  yesterday's 
newspapers  of  London  and  New  York. 

This  is  one  of  the  most  common  uses  of  the  dash. 

The  afterthought  dash  is  employed  to  set  off  appositives, 
adjective  or  adverb  groups,  or  other  matter,  the  dash  and 
the  position  at  the  end  of  the  sentence  giving  such  after- 
thoughts a  considerable  degree  of  emphasis. 

The  opposition  to  the  theater  by  the  city  was  doubtless  in  part 
due  to  moral  and  religious  grounds,  but  perhaps  in  larger  part 
to  direct  social  causes, — to  the  dangers  that  the  theaters  offered 
for  rioting,  fire,  and  the  spread  of  the  plague. — A.  H.  Thorndike, 
Shakespeare's  Theater,  p.  35. 

England  and  the  allies  had  laid  the  Corsican  ghost,  restored 
monarchy  in  France,  rekindled  the  aura  that  invests  a  king. 
History  was  free  once  more  to  pursue  the  even  tenor  of  her  way. 
Liberty,  Equality,  Fraternity, — these  would  be  recorded,  in  a 
footnote,  as  an  aberration  of  the  human  brain. — A.  E.  Hancock, 
John  Keats,  p.  2. 

In  each  of  these  examples  the  dash  (with  comma  in  each 
case,  as  it  happens)  is  an  appositive  point,  marking  in  the 


The  Dash  with  Other  Points  231 

second  example  a  shift  of  structure  with  release  of  sus- 
pension. In  the  following  passage  the  dash  sets  off  an 
emphatic  modifier: 

A  Dutch  artist  is  said  to  have  taken  a  cow  grazing  in  a  field 
as  the  "fixed  point"  in  his  landscape — with  consequences  to  his 
perspective  which  may  be  imagined.  The  writer  on  the  "laws" 
of  punctuation  is  in  much  the  same  predicament. — Wendell  Phil- 
lips Garrison,  "A  Dissolving  View  of  Punctuation,"  Atlantic 
Monthly,  August,  1906. 

6.  The  dash  has  semi-mechanical  uses  as  a  repetition 
sign  or  ditto  mark  in  catalogue  work,  bibliographies  and 
the  like,  and  between  an  extract  and  the  name  of  the 
author  or  journal  to  which  credit  is  given. 

7.  The   en    dash   in   typographical    work — the   hyphen 
character  being  the  nearest  equivalent  in  typewriting — 
is  used  between  dates  or  numbers,  between  names  which  are 
not   single   orthographic   units,    sometimes   in   compound 
words  set  in  capitals. 

Pages  35-55. 
April  20-26, 1918. 

The  New  York-Philadelphia  trains.  [But  Boston-Hartford  ex- 
press with  hyphen.] 

THE  DASH  WITH  OTHER  POINTS 

Certain  publishers  of  high  standing  use  the  combination 
of  colon  with  dash  before  quotations  separately  para- 
graphed, and  many  publications  make  considerable  use  of 
comma  with  dash.  On  the  other  hand  there  is  a  strong 
and  apparently  growing  weight  of  opinion  against  most 
combinations  with  the  dash  in  text  matter.  The  Style  Book 
of  Typographical  Practice  compiled  by  Mr.  Douglas  C. 


232  Modern  Punctuation 

McMurtrie  and  used  by  the  Columbia  University  Printing 
Office  says  categorically:  "  The  dash  .  .  .  cannot  properly 
be  combined  with  other  punctuation."  Mr.  F.  Horace 
Teall,  in  his  Punctuation,  with  Chapters  on  Hyphenization, 
is  equally  emphatic:  "As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  dash  [with 
colon]  adds  nothing  but  an  unsightly  mark  on  the  page." 
"No  writer  .  .  .  has  stated  a  sufficient  reason  for  using 
a  dash  and  any  other  point  together."  The  Manual  of 
Style  of  the  University  of  Chicago  Press  (fifth  edition, 
page  68)  says,  "A  dash  should  ordinarily  not  be  used  with 
any  other  point,  except  a  period."  These  opinions  are 
recent,  except  Mr.  Teall 's,  and  of  high  authority.  That  of 
Mr.  Teall,  cited  from  a  work  with  copyright  date  1897,  is 
evidence  that  the  objection  to  the  reinforced  or  reinforcing 
dash  is  no  novelty. 

The  combination  of  period  and  dash  is  used  for  the  most 
part  (1)  between  a  side-head  and  the  first  word  follow- 
ing, (2)  between  an  extract  and  the  name  of  the  work  or 
author,  (3)  to  mark  a  break  within  a  paragraph  or  to 
indicate  a  paragraph  where  space  must  be  saved.  After 
side-heads  the  period  is  often  used  without  the  dash.  The 
mid-paragraph  dash,  once  common,  is  infrequent  now  in 
ordinary  matter. 

The  dash  is  rarely  used  before  or  after  a  terminal  ques- 
tion or  exclamation  mark.  But  either  may  occur  at  the 
end  of  a  parenthetical  group  between  dashes. 

Yet  in  the  history  of  France  alluded  to  above,  the  description 
of  the  feudal  system  scarcely  extends  beyond  dungeons, — "Oh 
how  damp,  dark,  and  cold!" — knee  clamps  and  thumbscrews. — 
James  Harvey  Robinson,  The  New  History,  p.  11. 

The  dash  sometimes  occurs  after  but  seldom  before  the 
second  of  a  pair  of  curves,  not  often  after  a  semicolon, 
more  frequently  after  colon  or  comma. 


Combinations  with  the  Dash  233 

The  combination  colon  with  dash  is  sometimes  used  before 
an  appositive  or  quotation  which  follows  in  the  same  para- 
graph, but  much  oftener  before  a  paragraph  break,  as 
after  the  Dear  Sir  of  a  letter  or  after  words  introducing  an 
extract.  The  utility  of  the  dash  is  indiscernible. 

For  the  union  of  comma  with  dash  there  have  been  rules 
admirable  for  their  ingenuity  if  for  nothing  else.  The 
fact  is  that  the  dash  can  do  any  work  done  by  the  comma 
and  dash  together,  except  only  that  the  combination  seems 
more  emphatic.  A  series  parenthesis  containing  commas 
may  be  enclosed  between  dashes  or  between  commas  with 
dashes;  an  emphatic  afterthought  with  or  without  commas 
can  be  suspended  by  either  the  single  or  the  reinforced 
dash ;  compounding  can  be  managed  with  the  dash  alone 
or  with  the  dash  reinforced  by  preceding  comma.  There 
rnay  be  arbitrary  distinctions  between  the  dash  and  the 
reinforced  dash,  but  no  such  distinction  is  generally  valid 
or  indeed  clearly  understood,  except  for  a  supposed  dif- 
ference in  strength. 

Very  rarely  a  parenthesis  has  a  dash  at  the  beginning 
and  a  comma  with  dash  at  the  end.  This  arrangement  is 
likely  to  seem  eccentric,  whatever  the  apparent  logical 
justification.  As  the  dash  is  not  limited  to  parenthetical 
work  as  curves  are  limited,  the  second  dash  of  a  pair  may 
do  two  kinds  of  work  at  the  same  time. 

The  dash  may  either  precede  or  follow  an  end  quote,  ac- 
cording to  circumstances. 

"Welcome  to  Mexico !"  he  said. 

"Could  you  tell  me "  I  continued. 

"Welcome  to  our  sunny  Mexico !"  he  repeated — "our  beautiful, 
glorious  Mexico.  Her  heart  throbs  at  the  sight  of  you."— Ste- 
phen Leacock,  Further  Foolishness,  p.  67f. 


234  Modern  Punctuation 

VIII.    CURVES 

The  name  parenthesis  happens  to  be  the  most  convenient 
term  for  an  intermediate  expression  which  might  be  omitted 
without  dislocation  of  structure.  For  this  reason  and  be- 
cause the  most  frequent  parenthetical  marks  are  commas, 
the  term  parentheses  for  a  particular  pair  of  marks  may 
be  misleading.  The  name  curves,  already  current,  has 
therefore  been  used  in  this  book. 

In  the  plainest  kinds  of  prose,  curves  are  used  mainly  for 
two  purposes:  (1)  to  enclose  numbers  or  letters,  as  in 
this  sentence,  enumerating  the  members  of  a  series,  (2) 
to  enclose  incidental  explanatory  matter,  page  references, 
or  descriptive  matter  which  other  points  would  emphasize 
too  much  or  not  distinguish  clearly  from  matter  in  the 
immediate  context.  But  in  the  more  elaborate  or  literary 
types  of  prose,  curves  have  a  less  restricted  use.  They 
may  enclose  sentences,  even  passages  of  some  length ;  within 
the  sentence  they  may  set  off  parentheses  of  considerable 
length  and  complexity. 

Excessive  use  of  curves  may  give  an  air  of  self-conscious- 
ness, of  formality,  of  quaintness  where  quaintness  is  vanity. 
Curves  are  infrequent  in  good  untechnical  writing. 

When  curves  enclose  explanation  made  necessary  by  poor 
writing,  they  give  the  impression  of  laziness. 

John  said  that  he  (James)  expected  to  come  in  the  early  after- 
noon. 

Curves  are  employed,  ofte^i  as  alternative  to  commas 
or  dashes,  for  the  following  uses: 

1.  To  enclose  matter  which  is  to  be  taken  as  actually  or 
in  form  parenthetical. 

The  following  sentences  illustrate  the  lighter  uses  of 
curves  for  incidental  parentheses : 


Groups  within  Curves  235 

Seldom  is  a  newspaper  paragraph  longer  than  twenty  lines, 
or  about  150  words;  the  conservative  Springfield  (Mass.)  Repub- 
lican sets  a  limit  of  400  words. — C.  G.  Ross,  The  Writing  of 
News,  p.  184. 

Harrison  was  defeated  for  governor  by  a  farmer  (1876),  in 
a  heated  campaign,  in  which  "Kid-Gloved  Harrison"  was  held  up 
to  derision  by  the  adherents  of  "Blue-Jeans  Williams." — Mere- 
dith Nicholson,  The  Provincial  American  and  Other  Papers, 
p.  74f. 

The  second  one,  which  has  just  appeared — "Face  to  Face  with 
Kaiserism"  (Doran:  $2  net) — contains  nothing  on  official  affairs 
to  make  the  reader  sit  up  in  startled  amazement,  as  did  the  stories 
of  the  Kaiser's  personal  telegram  to  President  Wilson,  and  his  re- 
mark about  no  post-bellum  nonsense  from  America. — New  York 
Evening  Post,  April  17,  1918. 

The  following  sentences  illustrate  the  use  of  curves  for 
matter  less  incidental: 

With  the  exception  of  "Griffith  Davenport"  (which  was  very 
uneven  in  quality)  these  plays  were  accepted  by  the  public;  and, 
having  accepted  them,  the  public  could  not  retreat  into  the  past, 
nor  could  the  playwright. — Walter  Prichard  Eaton,  The  American 
Stage  of  To-day,  p.  10. 

Men  who  go  north  and  meet  the  woods  Indian  still  unspoiled 
(I  am  thinking  especially  of  one  sympathetic  and  shrewd  ex- 
plorer) tell  us  that  they  find  the  living  brother  of  Cooper's 
bronze  hero,  dignified,  of  high  honor,  stoical  and  eloquent. — 
John  Macy,  The  Spirit  of  American  Literature,  p.  42. 

The  first  contains  a  parenthetical  subordinate  clause,  the 
second  a  parenthetical  main  clause. 

Sometimes  curves  enclose  a  modifier  which  appears  to  be 
an  integral  part  of  the  structure :  "  despite  his  (supposedly) 
low  rank,"  ''the  (somewhat  obscure)  meaning  of  his 
words."  This  use  of  curves  is  infrequent  but  sometimes 
convenient. 

The  following  sentence,  from  the  article  Parenthesis  in 


236  Modern  Punctuation 

the  Encyclopaedia  Britannica  (eleventh  edition),  illustrates 
the  blending  of  series  and  parenthesis. 

The  grammatical  term  denoting  the  insertion  (and  so  also 
the  signs  for  such  insertion)  of  a  word,  phrase  or  sentence  be- 
tween other  words  or  in  another  sentence,  without  interfering 
with  the  construction,  and  serving  a  qualifying,  explanatory  or 
supplementary  purpose. 

Afterthoughts  are  sometimes  enclosed  in  curves,  but  are 
more  usually  pointed  with  comma  or  dash.  The  contradic- 
tion between  the  emphatic  position  of  such  groups  and  the 
apparently  light  pointing  may  explain  the  infrequency  of 
curves  for  terminal  groups. 

There  has  been  evidence  in  several  American  papers  that 
have  reached  me  recently  of  a  disposition  to  get  ahead  with 
Russia  and  cut  out  the  Germans  (and  incidentally  the  British). — 
H.  G.  Wells,  What  Is  Coming?  (p.  236). 

For  the  pointing  of  afterthoughts,  see  especially  pages 
114ff. 

A  parenthetical  group  may  be  set  as  a  sentence  in  curves. 

Put  the  period  inside  the  quotation  marks.  (This  is  a  rule 
without  exception.) — Rule  of  the  University  of  Chicago  Press. 

An  extension  of  the  parenthetical  sentence  is  the  para- 
graph, seldom  a  longer  passage,  in  curves. 

Credits  are  sometimes  enclosed  in  curves  instead  of  being 
set  off  with  the  dash. 

"It  can  be  only  through  desire  and  constant  experiment  that 
skill  in  writing  is  acquired."  (William  Tenney  Brewster.) 

2.  Curves  are  often  employed  to  enclose  division  letters 
or  numerals,  especially  division  numbers  within  a  para- 
graph. 


Curves  with  Other  Points  237 

When  you  read  a  book  there  are  only  three  things  of  which 
you  may  be  conscious:  (1)  The  significance  of  the  words,  which 
is  inseparably  bound  up  with  the  thought.  (2)  The  look  of  the 
printed  words  on  the  page — I  do  not  suppose  that  anybody  reads 
any  author  for  the  visual  beauty  of  the  words  on  the  page. 
(3)  The  sound  of  the  words,  either  actually  uttered  or  imagined 
by  the  brain  to  be  uttered. — Arnold  Bennett,  Literary  Taste,  p.  52. 

A  number  at  the  beginning  of  a  paragraph,  belonging  to 
the  whole  paragraph,  is  usually  pointed  with  the  period. 

A  single  right-hand  curve  is  sometimes  used  after  a  divi- 
sion number  or  letter,  but  rarely  except  in  tabulated  out- 
lines. 

3.  Curves  are  sometimes  used  to  enclose  editorial  inter- 
polations, especially  the  commentary  stc,  which  calls  atten- 
tion to  a  peculiarity  or  a  slip  in  quoted  matter.  If  the  con- 
text clearly  shows  the  parenthesis  to  be  an  interpolation, 
curves  are  not  seriously  objectionable.  Otherwise  the  writer 
should  use  brackets  or  manage  his  comments  otherwise 
than  by  interpolation. 

Curves  are  infrequently  used  to  enclose  doubtful  or 
alternative  letters,  as  when  one  writes  the  strai(gh)t  and 
narrow  way,  the  assessor  (s] — in  the  former  case  pointing 
out  the  proper  spelling  of  the  word,  in  the  latter  indicating 
doubt  whether  assessor  should  be  written  plural. 

CURVES  WITH  OTHER  POINTS 

The  second  curve  follows  a  sentence  point  only  when  the 
whole  sentence,  or  more  than  a  sentence,  is  parenthetical. 
If  the  curves  merely  enclose  a  group  at  the  end  of  a  sen- 
tence, the  terminal  point  follows  the  curve. 

"Edsall,  do  you  remember  Clark's  Field?"  (For  Edsall  had 
once  lived  in  Alton,  though  not  in  my  part  of  the  town.) — Robert 
Herrick,  Clark's  Field,  p.  12. 


238  Modern  Punctuation 

The  rule  has  been  quoted  from  The  Writer's  Desk  Book 
(page  13). 

According  to  the  usual  American  practice,  comma,  colon, 
and  semicolon  regularly  follow  the  second  curve. 

As  Mr.  Pearsall  Smith  points  out  (The  English  Language, 
Chap.  V),  our  standard  writers  were  once  innovators  in  language. 
—William  Tenney  Brewster,  Writing  English  Prose,  p.  155. 

When  I  was  a  child  my  mother  would  not  permit  me  to  read 
novels  on  Sunday;  and  yet,  some  thirty  years  after  that  period, 
I  received  a  letter  from  a  woman  who  was  very  old,  a  bed-ridden 
invalid,  and  the  widow  of  a  Baptist  minister  (the  three  quali- 
fications are  not  arranged  as  a  climax) ;  she  wrote,  "Thank  the 
Lord  for  novels!" — William  Lyon  Phelps,  The  Advance  of  the 
English  Novel,  p.  10. 

Like  the  comma  or  semicolon,  the  dash  may  follow  a  second 
curve. 

Why,  I've  seen  him  send  out  letters  (I  wouldn't  say  this  to  any 
one  outside,  of  course,  and  I  wouldn't  like  to  have  it  repeated)— 
letters  with,  actually,  mistakes  in  English.  Think  of  it,  in 
English!  Ask  his  stenographer. — Stephen  Leacock,  Further 
Foolishness,  p.  186. 

A  quote  mark  may  either  precede  or  follow  a  second 
curve,  according  to  circumstances : 

The  volume  cited  ("Aristocracy  and  Justice")  is  by  Mr.  Paul 
Elmer  More. 

The  sentence  is  in  this  form :  "There  was  much  talk  of  a  service 
in  Westminster  Abbey,  the  Prime  Minister  approved  of  it  and 
the  Dean  was  quite  willing  there  should  be  one,  providing  the 
Chapter  consented  (which  was  a  matter  of  course)." 

Matter  within  curves  may  contain  series  or  other  point- 
ing ;  but  with  the  exception  of  quote  marks,  question  marks, 
or  interrogation  points,  there  is  seldom  a  punctuation  mark 


Brackets  for  Interpolation  239 

before  the  second  of  a  pair  of  curves.  And  most  paren- 
theses ending  with  exclamation  or  question  marks  are 
enclosed  between  dashes. 

IX.    BRACKETS 

In  ordinary  text  brackets  are  almost  invariably  editorial 
points,  enclosing  matter  interpolated  in  an  extract  by 
way  of  substitution,  explanation,  or  comment.  The  use  of 
brackets  to  enclose  secondary  parenthesis  within  curves  is 
rare  except  in  technical  matter.  Few  typewriters  are 
equipped  with  bracket  characters. 

1.  The  bracketed  interpolation  may  be  a  word,  a  ques- 
tion or  exclamation  mark,  or  a  passage  of  some  length. 

"My  son,"  cries  the  Savoyard  curate,  "keep  your  soul  always 
in  a  state  to  desire  that  there  may  be  a  God,  and  you  will  never 
doubt  it  [this  sounds  much  like  the  German  Kant].  .  .  ." — P.  M. 
Buck,  Jr.,  Social  Forces  in  Modern  Literature,  p.  82. 

Brackets  for  substitution  are  likely  to  be  awkward.  If 
one  quotes  a  rule  in  the  form  ''The  comma  is  required 
before  not,  when  introducing  an  antithetical  clause,"  with 
a  substitution  for  the  misleading  "required,"  the  effect  is 
awkward : 

"The  comma  is  [permissible]  before  not,  when  introducing  an 
antithetical  clause." 

As  the  substituted  word  is  structurally  essential,  the  point- 
ing is  clumsy. 

The  parenthetical  commentary  sic,  set  either  roman  or 
italic,  is  sometimes  enclosed  in  curves,  sometimes  in 
brackets.  Brackets  are  the  logical  marks  for  the  purpose. 
A  question  or  exclamation  mark  interpolated  in  an  extract 
by  way  of  query  or  expression  of  surprise  is  properly 
bracketed. 


240  Modern  Punctuation 

2.  In  texts  of  uncertain  authority,  brackets  are  used  to 
enclose  letters,  words,  even  punctuation  marks,  which  the 
editor  regards  as  interpolated  or  conjectural. 

3.  Brackets   may    enclose    a  parenthesis   within   paren- 
thetical matter.    This  arrangement  is  uncommon  except  in 
legal  or  other  technical  matter. 

Bowman  Act  (22  Stat.  L.,  eh.  4,  §  [or  sec.]  4,  p.  50).— Court 
of  Claims  style,  Government  Printing  Office. 

Within  curves  in  ordinary  text  matter,  a  secondary  paren- 
thesis may  be  set  off  with  commas. 

4.  Brackets  are  rarely  used  to  enclose  division  numbers 
belonging  to  a  series  set  as  a  solid  paragraph.     For  this 
purpose  curves  are  much  oftener  used,  as  in  the  paragraph 
just  below. 

5.  A  single  bracket  may  be  used  (1)  to  indicate  a  run- 
over  of  a  line  set  above  or  below  the  line  to  save  space,  (2) 
to  set  off  a  credit  from  an  extract.    These  uses  are  rare  or 
special. 

Brackets  used  with  other  points  follow  as  a  rule  the 
same  order  as  curves. 


CHAPTER  IX 
SOME  TYPES  OF  PUNCTUATION 

THE  purpose  of  this  chapter  is  to  point  out  some  facts 
about  the  frequency  of  punctuation  marks  in  representa- 
tive current  books  and  periodicals. 

The  percentages  given  in  the  tables  below  are  not  offered 
as  the  result  of  exhaustive  or  even  extensive  investigation. 
They  are  intended  merely  to  give  definite  information 
within  the  limits  noted.  But  they  are  sufficient  to  throw 
light  on  certain  resemblances  or  differences  of  style,  and  to 
show  in  a  measure  the  frequency  in  which  certain  points 
are  likely  to  be  useful. 

Deductions  from  these  figures  should  be  made  with  cau- 
tion. The  tone  and  movement  of  composition  are  affected 
not  merely  by  the  points  here  listed  but  also  by  paragraph- 
ing, capitals,  italic,  hyphens,  even  apostrophes.  The  weight 
and  movement  of  style  depend  in  large  part  also  on  the 
frequency  of  finite  verbs,  the  frequency  and  kind  of  con- 
nectives, the  frequency  and  kinds  of  relative  clauses.  A 
useful  laboratory  test  of  an  individual's  written  style 
would  involve  much  more  than  the  counting  of  punctuation 
marks.  Yet  the  mere  proportion  of  terminal  to  other  points 
may  be  sufficient  to  make  clear  the  need  of  simplifying 
sentence  structure.  Or  the  fact  that  a  writer  uses  ten  dashes 
to  ninety  of  all  other  structural  points  put  together  raises 
the  presumption  that  his  style  should  be  either  more  care- 
ful or  more  temperate. 

In  all  the  estimates  given,  the  following  classes  of  points 
are  omitted : 

241 


242  Modern  Punctuation 

1.  Hyphens,  apostrophes,  en  dashes  (as  in  the  expression  1917- 
1918),  commas  in  numerals    (as  in  100,000),  and  abbreviation 
periods,  except  where  terminal  duty  is  performed  by  the  same 
period. 

2.  Quote  marks. 

3.  Points  within  extracts,  except  points  which  mark  the  termi- 
nation or  interruption  of  the  extract.     For  example,  in  the  fol- 
lowing sentence  the  commas  after  bearer  and  Jones  and  the  period 
after  laurel  are  not  counted. 

It  seems  that  Colley  Gibber,  when  he  thought  he  was  dying,  wrote  to  the 
Prime  Minister,  "recommending  the  bearer,  Mr.  Henry  Jones,  for  the  vacant 
laurel.  Lord  Chesterfield  will  tell  you  more  of  him." 

Editorial  brackets  and  ellipsis  periods  belong  to  extracts, 
and  therefore  are  not  counted.  Brackets  sometimes  occur 
in  original  matter,  but  not  in  the  text  of  the  passages 
cited. 

Footnotes  and  headings  of  all  kinds,  including  side-heads, 
are  excluded  from  the  estimate. 

Colons  which  are  not  clearly  anticipatory  are  listed  as 
"other  colons."  Every  reinforcing  combination  (comma 
with  dash,  colon  with  dash,  period  with  dash,  or  group  of 
suspension  periods  with  a  full  stop)  is  listed  as  one  point; 
but  points  occurring  merely  in  juxtaposition,  as  question 
marks  preceding  parenthetical  points,  are  counted  sep- 
arately. 

For  a  list  of  the  passages  on  which  the  first  three  tables 
are  based,  see  the  end  of  the  chapter. 

Table  A,  "Terminal  and  Other  Points/ '  shows  the  pro- 
portion of  terminal  to  other  points  in  representative  pas- 
sages from  ten  American  periodicals  and  ten  individual 
writers.  Carlyle,  Pater,  and  Emerson  are  included  for 
the  sake  of  comparison  with  contemporary  authors.  The 
periodicals  range  from  conservative  to  sensational. 

The  terminal  points  are  period,  question  mark,  exclama- 


Terminal  and  Other  Points 


243 


aouajueg 


|  +  ]  +  + 

<N         CO  b-  i— i 

O  00  CO  Ttj  TJ<  CQ  O 

lU  CO  r*  CO  CO  CO  CO 


+     1    +     I    +  +  +     I    +     1    ++     I 
CO  C<l  CO  •— i  CO  T*  •— I  rt<         t^  U3  CO  CO 


CO  M<         00  00  OS 


1 


>-J  TH  O5  C<1  t>^  00  TlJ 

?o  10  co  I-H  c>  06  1^      «o  o  -^  TJ<  co  o  o 

CO  «0  «O  «0  <C  <0 


r-   Oi  CS  O 


10  co  I-H  c>  0  1^ 

00  CO  t^  t^.  t~  «O  O 


. 

S  "S 

It 

fl 
c 


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COTCOOOOi-HOv          Co'*U3«5«DO5OS'-H'-occOCO«ot 
^H  S  (N  (M  <M  CO  CO         CO  CO  CO  CO  CO  CO  CO  rt<  "^  ^  ^  ^  "t  Tf  ^ 


c  r-  •- 


OiOJCO^—  iO5«0«OCOOCOCO 

'    '  r-J    '  -<  oci  o4    '    "  oi  i-I  oi  oi 


O  CO  CQ  OJ  OS  00 


co^tvl^oorjJi-H       cJoi^oico^cii-ccsosiO 

^H  ,H  ,-H  <N  <M  <N  CO    CO  CO  CO  CO  CO  CO  ^  CO  T*  T^  CO  CO  Tf 


rt  Tf  ^  rt<  CO 


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S 


i 


244  Modern  Punctuation 

tion,  dash,  suspension  points,  and  combinations  of  ordinary 
terminal  marks  with  dash  or  suspension  points.  The  colon 
at  the  end  of  a  paragraph  has  not  been  counted  here  as  a 
terminal  point,  being  felt  rather  as  a  mark  of  incompletion 
suspending  the  words  which  follow. 

A  high  terminal-point  percentage  means  a  small  average 
number  of  points  per  sentence.  A  low  percentage  means 
usually  a  more  elaborate  structure,  or  at  any  rate  a  more 
elaborate  pointing.  In  the  Carlyle  passage,  for  example,  the 
terminal-point  percentage  is  23.1 ;  the  average  number  of 
points  per  sentence  is  almost  4.33.  In  the  passage  from  Mr. 
Crothers  the  terminal  points  reach  the  high  percentage  of 
63,  and  the  average  number  of  points  per  sentence  is 
below  1.59. 

The  percentages  for  the  North  American  Review,  the 
Nation,  the  New  Republic,  the  Saturday  Evening  Post,  and 
the  six  newspapers  range  from  29.3  to  53.1,  the  mean  per- 
centage being  42.71.  For  the  ten  periodicals  the  average 
number  of  points  per  sentence  is  a  little  over  2.34.  If  the 
North  American  Review  and  the  Christian  Science  Monitor 
are  omitted,  the  sentence-point  average  is  about  45.5, 
and  the  average  number  of  points  per  sentence  less 
than  2.2. 

The  small  average  per  sentence  in  good  editorial  writing 
today  is  significant.  The  editorials  published  in  the  better 
newspapers  and  magazines  are  often  rapidly  produced ;  yet 
they  must  be  clear,  direct,  often  exact  in  details  of  expres- 
sion, always  interesting  enough  to  satisfy  a  varied  and 
sometimes  critical  circle  of  readers.  They  are  in  many 
cases  not  less  than  artistic.  Their  economical  punctuation, 
especially  the  small  average  number  of  points  per  sentence, 
is  made  possible  by  straightforward  expression,  with  strict 
economy  of  parenthetical  or  otherwise  elaborate  structure. 
In  this  respect  their  example  is  entirely  good. 


Terminal  and  Other  Points  245 

Of  all  the  passages  recorded  in  the  table,  the  most  elabo- 
rately pointed  happens  to  be  one  from  Pater's  Essay  on 
Style,  the  one  in  which  students  read  of  the  rhythm  which 
gives  its  musical  value  to  every  syllable,  of  vraie  verite, 
of  self-restraint  and  the  removal  of  surplusage,  of  the  sen- 
tence "so  fortunately  born,  'entire,  smooth,  and  round/ 
that  it  needs  no  punctuation. " 

Next  in  elaborateness  is  Mr.  Henry  James.  In  the  pas- 
sage cited,  there  is  free  omission  of  parenthetical  points; 
yet  the  average  number  of  points  per  sentence  is  very  high 
— 6.8  plus,  as  against  less  than  2.5  for  most  of  the  periodi- 
cals. The  elaborate  punctuation  may  help  to  explain  the 
indifference  in  which  Mr.  James's  writings  are  held  by 
many  whose  literary  interest  is  far  from  narrow. 

The  percentage  next  lowest  after  that  for  Mr.  James  is 
for  a  passage  from  Carlyle:  23.1  per  cent  of  terminal 
points.  Carlyle 's  omission  of  points  for  parenthesis,  adjec- 
tive series,  and  appositives  may  seem  the  height  of  economy ; 
but  in  general  his  pointing  is  heavy  and  emphatic. 

The  Carlyle  flavor  in  the  mechanics  of  style  is  due  in 
considerable  measure  to  the  frequency  of  hyphens  and 
capitals.  The  following  passage  (from  Heroes,  and  Hero- 
Worship,  Chapman  and  Hall's  London  edition,  1885,  page 
147)  is  typical  of  Carlyle 's  punctuation,  though  inadequate 
to  illustrate  his  free  use  of  capitals. 

One  remembers  always  that  story  of  the  shoes  at  Oxford:  the 
rough,  seamy-faced,  rawboned  College  Servitor  stalking  about, 
in  winter-season,  with  his  shoes  worn-out;  how  the  charitable 
Gentleman  Commoner  secretly  places  a  new  pair  at  his  door;  and 
the  rawboned  Sorvitor,  lifting  them,  looking:  at  them  near,  with 
his  dim  eyes,  with  what  thoughts, — pitches  them  out  of  window! 
Wet  feet,  mud,  frost,  hunger  or  what  you  will;  but  not  beggary: 
we  cannot  stand  beggary!  Rude  stubborn  self-help  here;  a 
whole  world  of  squalor,  rudeness,  confused  misery  and  want, 


246  Modern  Punctuation 

yet  of  nobleness  and  manfulness  withal.  It  is  a  type  of  the 
man's  life,  this  pitching-away  of  the  shoes.  An  original  man; — 
not  a  secondhand,  borrowing  or  begging  man.  Let  us  stand  on 
our  own  basis,  at  any  rate!  On  such  shoes  as  we  ourselves 
can  get.  On  frost  and  mud,  if  you  will,  but  honestly  on  that; — 
on  the  reality  and  substance  which  Nature  gives  us,  not  on  the 
semblance,  on  the  thing  she  has  given  another  than  us ! — 

Rude  stubborn  self-help  is  a  rapid  group  which  a  modern 
purist  in  punctuation  might  interrupt  with  a  comma.  But 
for  the  most  part  the  passage  is  pointed  with  a  lavishness 
not  often  matched  in  good  writing  today.  The  eight  sen- 
tences carry  38  structural  points  or  combinations :  4  periods, 
3  exclamation  marks,  1  exclamation  mark  with  dash,  21 
commas,  4  semicolons,  2  semicolons  with  dash,  1  comma 
with  dash,  2  colons.  The  average  number  of  interior  breaks 
per  sentence  is  3.75.  With  the  sentence  points  added,  the 
average  number  of  points  or  combinations  per  sentence  is 
4.75.  The  Carlyle  passage  for  which  figures  are  given  in 
the  table  shows  a  lower  average  of  points  per  sentence,  but 
is  similar  in  tone  and  effect. 

The  use  of  strange  hyphened  compounds,  with  marked 
effects  on  suggested  accent,  is  a  striking  characteristic  of 
Carlylese  mechanics.  With  his  shoes  worn-out,  this  pitch- 
ing-away of  the  shoes,  sprawl-out,  putting-in  the  woof, 
Heroes  have  gone-out,  Quacks  have  come-in,  your  Able-man 
—these  are  characteristic.  The  hyphenations  and  the  Ger- 
man style  of  capitalization  have  much  to  do  with  the  pe- 
culiarities of  Carlyle 's  manner. 

Even  without  the  extremes  represented  by  the  passages 
from  Pater,  Mr.  James,  and  Carlyle,  the  sentence-point 
percentages  vary  sharply.  They  range  from  28.8  for  Mr. 
Paul  Elmer  More  to  63  for  Mr.  Samuel  McChord  Crothers. 
In  the  passage  cited  Mr.  More  uses  about  3.47  points  per 


Terminal  and  Other  Points  247 

sentence,  Mr.  G.  K.  Chesterton  about  2.54,  the  Nation  about 
2.35,  the  Saturday  Evening  Post  just  under  2.1,  the  New 
York  Tribune  and  Mr.  Crothers  about  1.88  and  1.59. 

The  differences  are  due  partly  to  material  and  purpose, 
partly  to  differences  of  temper  or  varying  degrees  of  lit- 
erary skill.  Mr.  More,  for  example,  is  less  careful  of  his 
medium  than  of  his  thought.  Certainly  he  is  less  persua- 
sive than  he  might  be  if  he  were  more  careful  of  style — as 
careful,  say,  as  Miss  Agnes  Repplier  or  Mr.  Arnold  Ben- 
nett. Mr.  More 's  elaborate  sentence  structure  requires  more 
than  twice  as  many  points  per  sentence  as  are  used  by  Mr. 
Crothers. 

Just  below  Mr.  More,  with  an  average  of  about  3.41,  are 
the  editorials  from  the  Christian  Science  Monitor.  The 
large  average  here  is  partly  explained  by  the  small  variety 
of  points — only  periods,  commas,  question  marks,  and  a 
few  semicolons,  with  dependence  in  unusual  degree  upon 
that  greatly  overburdened  point  the  comma.  Of  all  the 
writers  and  journals  listed  in  this  chapter,  except  Pater, 
Mr.  Henry  James  comes  nearest  to  the  comma  percentage  of 
the  Monitor. 

The  last  fifteen  passages  in  the  list — with  the  highest 
sentence-point  averages  and  the  smallest  numbers  of  points 
per  sentence — represent  five  newspapers,  three  weekly 
periodicals,  and  seven  individual  writers:  Emerson,  and 
Messrs.  H.  G.  Wells,  Arnold  Bennett,  G.  K.  Chesterton, 
Samuel  McChord  Crothers,  Albert  Elmer  Hancock,  and 
William  Allen  White.  Though  varied  enough  in  tone  and 
style,  they  are  alike  in  keeping  the  average  number  of 
points  per  sentence  well  below  three.  Emerson's  style  is 
essentially  modern,  that  of  Mr.  Crothers  almost  ultra- 
modern. 

Obviously  no  safe  deductions  can  be  made  from  the  num- 
ber of  points  per  sentence  except  in  relation  to  the  other 


248  Modern  Punctuation 

things  that  contribute  to  the  effect.  The  passages  with 
the  lowest  averages  of  points  per  sentence  are  not  necessarily 
better  than  those  with  higher  averages.  The  North  American 
Review  editorials  are  not  less  effective  than  those  of  the 
Saturday  Evening  Post  or  the  New  York  Tribune;  nor  is 
Miss  Repplier's  writing  inferior  in  art  or  persuasiveness 
to  that  of  the  writers  who  use  only  three  fifths  as  many 
points  per  sentence.  In  general,  an  average  exceeding 
three  points  per  sentence  is  likely  to  be  a  sign  of  heavy 
structure;  but  within  limits  of  reasonable  economy  there 
is  much  latitude. 

In  most  of  the  passages  listed  in  Table  B  the  most  fre- 
quent point  is  the  comma.  The  exceptions  are  the  pas- 
sages from  Mr.  Hancock  (periods  45.6,  commas  42),  Mr. 
Crothers  (periods  60.3,  commas  33.7),  the  Saturday  Even- 
ing Post  editorials  (periods  46.9,  commas  39.2),  and  the 
New  York  Tribune  editorials  (periods  49.4,  commas  41). 
In  the  aggregate  of  the  20,000  points  represented  in  the 
table,  commas  outnumber  periods  9801  to  7852.  This  is 
partly  because  the  comma  is  the  most  versatile  of  all  struc- 
tural points  and  usually  the  lightest. 

In  the  passages  here  represented,  periods  outnumber 
question  marks  7852  to  312,  about  20  times.  They  out- 
number exclamation  marks  more  than  50  times.  But  in  a 
few  of  the  writings  listed,  question  and  exclamation  marks 
make  a  considerable  proportion  of  the  less  frequent 
marks — 3  per  cent  for  Mr.  Harvey,  3.3  for  the  New 
York  Times,  3.7  for  the  New  York  Tribune,  6.5  for  Mr. 
Galsworthy. 

Third  in  frequency  is  the  semicolon.  Omitting  a  few 
cases  of  semicolon  with  dash,  the  semicolons  number  899; 
the  616  dashes  plus  66  cases  of  comma  with  dash  make  682. 
In  the  aggregate  of  20,000  points  the  semicolons  make 
nearly  4.5  per  cent;  the  dashes  plus  the  reinforced  dashes 


Relative  Frequency  of  Points 


249 


spojjaj   uois 
-uadsng   q}]M 

spojaaj 

nojsuadsng  .    .    .    .  —  o 

spojaaj |_J 

l>00      •  CO  CO  CO  00  O  (N  <N         Tt<  T*      'CO 

-"  :~       MM^  :     :     :     :sg 

qsBQ  q;iM     ^.^FH ^ca 

suoioo  : 

*  BUUIV.J  —          ^  °°       •  rH  CO  (M  rH 

«mo  ( 

t-      •  CO  00  "*  rH  O  O  lQfr-<N         05  CO  Tj<  00  rH  T}<  00  <N  «D  10  IO 
N          rH  rH  rH  rH          rH          IQ  ' 

SBmraoo     ««««-    -    --    -05    •      oo 
saqsBQ 

qSBQ     q^IM  ..rH.-rH -» CO«O 

snoioDiraag 


snoiooitnag 


10  «*      10  rn  t-  ^  co  eg 


uotjBniBpxg 


^  t^  r-  «o  co  <M  co  <M  rH  eo  co   «o  w  co  o  <o  co  OJ  -^  t>-  as  10 

(M  CM  rH          OJ  ^ 

rH  CO 


uopsanfr 


CO  t^  05  10  Tf<  05  <M  O  CO  CO  «O        ^  CO  O  rH  «  O  OS  CO  «O  <N  <O 
(M  rH  Tt<  rH  rH  (N  (N  rH  <N  CO  rH  (M  rH  rH  U3 

CO  ,_, 


CO  Tj< 


rHC5O 
Tj<  C<J   (M 


rH  l«  C5 


rH  (M  rH  rH  O 


CO  GO  OS  CO  (M  Tt<  05  00  (M  rH  00         OS  U5  C5  O5  rH  00  O  ^  CO  (M  CO 
O  Tf  01  1C  t^  00  T*  «0  0  rH  rH  O  O  CO  OS  10  C5  Oi  Ci  0  «5  05 

COCOCOrf<NCO(NCOcO^CO         OO^^CO^COCOTK^OOv 


i 


250  Modern  Punctuation 

make  3.41  per  cent.  This  is  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the 
dash  is  often  used  in  pairs. 

In  a  few  of  the  passages  the  semicolon  yields  third  place 
to  other  points.  In  those  from  Mr.  Crothers,  the  New  York 
Times,  and  the  New  Republic,  the  question  mark  ranks 
third.  In  that  from  the  New  York  Evening  Post,  the  semi- 
colon and  dash  divide  honors  for  third  place,  with  3  per 
cent  each.  In  those  from  the  New  York  American,  the  New 
York  Tribune,  Mr.  Arnold  Bennett,  and  Mr.  William  Allen 
White,  the  dashes  (including  all  cases  of  comma  with  dash) 
outnumber  the  semicolons.  But  in  twelve  of  the  twenty 
writers  and  periodicals  the  semicolon  ranks  third  in  fre- 
quency. 

Anticipatory  colons,  as  before  a  quotation  or  list,  out- 
number other  colons  155  to  21.  The  two  kinds  together 
are  not  nearly  equal  in  number  to  the  question  marks  (176 
to  312)  and  are  not  greatly  in  excess  of  curves  (176  to 
139).  This  is  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  in  the  works  listed 
there  are  a  good  many  paragraph  quotations  preceded  by 
colons.  According  to  the  decided  weight  of  usage  today, 
the  colon  is  specialized  as  an  anticipatory  mark,  and  even 
as  such  is  not  often  used  in  ordinary  text  except  before 
quotations. 

The  use  of  the  colon  to  call  attention  to  a  following  re- 
mark not  quoted  is  comparatively  infrequent  because  likely 
to  be  too  formal  and  self-satisfied,  as  if  the  writer  were 
heralding  his  own  words  too  loudly.  Yet  in  certain  popular 
periodicals  this  use  of  the  colon  is  so  common  as  to  be  a 
mannerism.  If  rapidity  and  informality  are  desired,  the 
paragraph-suspension  colon  should  frequently  give  place  to 
the  period. 

It  is  clear  that  curves  are  not  often  required  in  ordinary 
writing.  The  average  percentage  of  curves  in  the  twenty 
passages  cited  is  not  quite  seven  tenths  of  one  per  cent. 


Editorial  Pointing 

i   I  +!  I  I  I  I     4- 


jad  Bjajoj 


1 

-  I 
9  * 

tt     3 

a  i 
i 

w 


I 


f 


-C0«0 


S9AJUO 


4-  snojoo    I 
wiRO    I      ' 


•jay 


>§ 


uoiooiraag 


uraraoo 


1-1  10  >o  «  «o  TH  o»  t 


1 


251 


252  Modern  Punctuation 

Curves  are  seldom  used  now  for  parenthetical  clauses, 
being  reserved  principally  for  casual  asides  and  for  ap- 
position within  comma-pointed  series. 

If  there  were  estimates  for  the  novels  of  Mrs.  Edith 
Wharton,  Mr.  Kobert  Herrick,  Mr.  Arnold  Bennett,  or 
Mr.  H.  G.  Wells,  the  aggregate  figures  for  suspension 
periods  would  be  larger.  As  the  works  cited  in  this  table 
are  mostly  didactic  rather  than  imaginative,  the  figures 
for  suspension  periods  (3  cases  in  20,000  points)  are  too 
low  to  be  representative  of  contemporary  literature  as  a 
whole. 

Table  C  is  a  repetition  of  certain  figures  from  Tables  A 
and  B.  The  figures  represent,  within  the  limits  noted,  the 
editorial  practice  of  one  monthly  magazine,  three  weekly 
magazines,  and  six  newspapers. 

The  average  number  of  points  per  sentence  ranges  from 
more  than  3.4,  an  unusually  high  average  for  newspaper 
writing,  to  less  than  1.9.  The  mean  average  is  just  over 
2.34. 

The  points  in  order  of  frequency  are  period,  comma, 
semicolon,  dash,  terminal  question  mark,  anticipatory  colon, 
terminal  exclamation  mark,  curves,  comma  with  dash,  in- 
terior exclamation  mark,  interior  question  mark,  non- 
anticipatory  colon,  and  semicolon  with  dash.  The  eight 
cases  of  comma  with  dash  and  the  one  case  of  semicolon 
with  dash  occur  in  the  North  American  Review.  There  are 
some  newspapers  which  use  colon  with  dash  instead  of  colon 
alone  before  extracts  separately  paragraphed;  but  the 
union  of  comma  with  dash  is  not  newspaper  style.  Accord- 
ing to  the  weight  of  expert  authority  it  ought  not  to  be 
book  style  either. 

The  interior  question  and  exclamation  marks  (.06  and  .04 
per  cent)  are  in  most  cases  used  at  the  ends  of  quotations. 


Some  Extremes  of  Punctuation 


253 


As  series  or  compounding  points  they  are  rare  in  recent 
books  and  almost  unknown  in  newspapers. 

Those  who  advocate  the  smallest  possible  variety  of  struc- 
tural points  may  have  noticed  that  editorial  writers  use 
fewer  kinds  than  some  authors.  Except  for  sporadic  cases 
the  editorials  here  listed  do  not  use  the  compounding  colon 
or  the  comma  with  dash ;  they  do  not  use  suspension  periods 
at  all.  But  they  make  moderate  use  of  semicolons,  dashes, 
colons,  curves,  and  exclamation  and  question  marks.  These 
are  far  less  often  needed  than  commas  or  periods,  but  for 
their  proper  purposes  are  indispensable. 

The  following  table  shows  some  extremes  of  elaborate- 
ness, simplicity,  and  emotionality  in  punctuation. 


TABLE  D 
SOME  EXTREMES  OF  PUNCTUATION 


a 

i 

£3 

(4 

o 

s! 

{J 

1 

/s 

& 

h 
O 

•sl 

a^ 

ctf 

d 

— 

ja-a 

JrS  |  R 

Q  rt 

^ 

o 

•*^ 

^3 

m  O 

•3  ^j  «2  »fl 

*^  2 

a 

0 

-i 

a 

cS 

* 

71 

5| 

-- 

§§ 

-  - 
SQ 

*% 

II 

o 

as 

.a 

i 

a 

_ 

a 

.§! 

E 

•g-s 

s-s'ls 

5.  .2 

l! 

a 

O1 

X 

(3 

3 

£ 

5 

o 

o 

0 

r3 

53 

3i 

Xi. 

Walter  Pater  

13.1 
14.0 
790 

.4 

.7 

80 

1.0 
.2 

3.1 

9.7 

.1 

3.8 

8.6 

75.1 
62.7 
9.5 

1.0 
.9 
,35 

.6 

1.4 
32 

.3 

.1 

•  • 

•• 

•• 

Henry  James 

Horace   Traubel..  .  . 

Harold  Bell  Wright 

28.7 

1.5 

.5 

10.0 

6.4 

51.1 

1.8 

.. 

Molly   Make-Beliere 

(dialogue)  

18.6 

5.8 

10.8 

19.2 

i 

•'.o 

39.2 

.4 

•• 

1.4 

.8 

.4 

.8 

.6 

*  Alone  or  reinforcing  a  terminal  period. 


The  percentages  for  Pater  and  Mr.  Henry  James  are  re- 
peated, with  additional  specification,  from  Table  A. 

Those  for  Mr.  Horace  Traubel,  representing  200  points, 
are  based  on  a  passage  in  the  Conservator  for  April,  1912, 


254  Modern  Punctuation 

beginning  after  the  sentence  break  in  line  1  of  page  27, 
and  ending  with  line  16  of  page  28. 

Those  for  Mr.  Harold  Bell  Wright,  representing  1000 
points,  are  for  Their  Yesterdays  (omitting  "What  They 
Found  in  Their  Yesterdays")  to  the  second  comma  break 
in  line  11  of  page  47. 

The  figures  for  Molly  Make-Believe,  by  Eleanor  Hallo- 
well  Abbott,  represent  the  pointing  of  dialogue  only.  The 
passages,  containing  500  points,  are  pages  89-100,  116-152, 
and  the  first  12  lines  of  page  153.  Sentences  containing 
any  narrative  matter  (even  "he  said")  are  omitted  from 
the  estimate. 

It  has  already  been  noticed  that  Pater's  pointing  is  very 
elaborate,  the  sentences  represented  by  the  figures  above 
carrying  an  average  of  more  than  7  points  each.  The 
commas  alone  reach  the  very  high  percentage  of  75.1.  The 
Essay  on  Style  is  very  carefully  finished,  but  is  at  best  a 
piece  of  belles-lettres. 

Next  to  Pater  in  average  number  of  points  per  sentence 
is  Mr.  Henry  James.  The  passage  from  A  Small  Boy  and 
Others  upon  which  the  figures  are  based  has  an  average 
of  about  6.8  points  per  sentence.  The  other  noticeable  fea- 
tures are  the  large  percentages  of  dashes  (9.7),  of  semi- 
colons (8.6),  and  of  curves  (3.2). 

Pater  and  Mr.  James  are  extreme  in  elaborateness  of 
pointing.  The  opposite  extreme  of  simplicity,  so  far  as 
shown  in  any  of  the  tables,  appears  in  the  passage  from 
Mr.  Horace  Traubel.  Of  the  200  points  there  are  only 
four  kinds:  158  periods,  16  question  marks,  19  commas, 
and  7  colons.  The  number  of  points  per  sentence  is  not 
quite  1.15.  An  ordinary  newspaper  editorial  average  is 
almost  double  this  figure. 

The  effect  of  Mr.  Traubel's  pointing  upon  tone  and 
movement  may  be  judged  from  the  following  passage,  from 


Wasted  Dashes  255 

page  28  of  the  Conservator  for  April,  1912.  The  extract  k 
from  a  review  of  Mr.  Archibald  Henderson's  biography  of 
George  Bernard  Shaw. 

This  is  primarily  an  age  of  love  and  romance.  An  age  in 
which  love  is  becoming  earth  big  at  last  and  romance  is  becoming 
social  at  last.  An  age  in  which  love  and  romance  have  become 
imperative  as  never  before.  Yet  Henderson  speaking  of  Shaw 
does  not  say  love.  Is  that  Henderson's  fault  or  Shaw's  fault  or 
my  fault?  Or  is  it  nobody's  fault?  Is  it  just  the  situation? 
Shaw  dont  account  for  the  fool.  He  accounts  for  the  wise  men. 
For  the  fools.  But  not  for  the  fool.  ...  I  dont  know  whether 
his  book  takes  me  any  nearer  Shaw.  But  it  takes  me  nearer 
myself.  And  that's  the  chief  thing.  Nearer  the  letter  and  spirit 
of  the  space  and  years  I  live  in.  That's  the  chief  thing.  No 
real  democrat  could  be  modest.  That's  why  Shaw  talks  like  an 
ass  of  himself.  That's  why  Henderson  takes  the  ass  seriously. 
That's  why  I  look  the  ass  in  the  face  and  bray. 

If  the  style  of  Mr.  Harold  Bell  Wright  is  fairly  rep- 
resented by  Tlieir  Yesterdays,  the  most  striking  char- 
acteristic of  his  pointing  is  an  extravagant  use  of  dashes. 
The  average  number  of  points  per  sentence  (3.2  plus)  is 
not  extravagantly  high,  is  in  fact  lower  than  the  figures 
shown  in  Table  A  for  Pater,  Mr.  James,  Carlyle,  Mr.  Paul 
Elmer  More,  and  the  Christian  Science  Monitor  editorials. 
Mr.  Wright  uses  a  larger  percentage  of  dashes  than  any 
writer  or  periodical  listed  in  the  first  three  tables.  In 
Table  D  he  is  exceeded  in  proportion  of  dashes  only  by 
the  dialogue  passages  from  Molly  Make-Believe,  a  book 
which  might  fairly  be  termed  the  height  of  extremity  in 
emotional  pointing,  even  for  dialogue.  A  little  below  Mr. 
Wright  in  proportion  of  dashes  is  Mr.  Henry  James.  In 
general  Mr.  James  and  Mr.  Wright  are  as  far  apart  as  the 
poles. 


256  Modern  Punctuation 

The  peculiarly  sentimental  quality  of  Mr.  Wright's  style, 
so  far  as  mechanics  are  concerned,  is  in  part  due  to  lavish 
use  of  capitals,  as  in  this  paragraph  from  page  9  of  Their 
Yesterdays: 

Dreams,  Occupation,  Knowledge,  Ignorance,  Religion,  Tradi- 
tion, Temptation,  Life,  Death,  Failure,  Success,  Love,  Memories: 
these  are  the  Thirteen  Truly  Great  Things  of  Life — found  by 
the  man  and  the  woman  in  their  grown  up  days — found  by 
them  in  Their  Yesterdays — and  they  found  no  others. 

Molly  Make-Believe  (1910),  a  book  more  widely  read 
than  historians  of  American  literature  would  be  glad  to 
admit,  is  notable  for  its  riotous  use  of  emotional  points.  In 
the  passages  of  dialogue  here  listed  the  periods  are  out- 
numbered by  the  dashes.  Question  and  exclamation  marks 
run  to  5.8  and  10.8  per  cent  respectively;  and  there  are 
suspension  periods,  commas  with  dashes,  and  dashes  in 
combination  with  periods,  with  question  marks,  even  with 
exclamation  points.  The  emotional  points — dashes  alone 
or  in  combination,  suspension  periods,  question  and  ex- 
clamation marks — make  together  39.8  per  cent  of  the  points. 
Dialogue  may  be  expected  to  run  higher  in  strong  points 
than  narrative  matter,  but  the  proportion  in  Molly  Make- 
Believe  is  extreme.  One  of  the  dramatis  personae  is  a 
highly  romantic  girl ;  the  others  in  the  passages  for  which 
figures  are  taken  are  men,  one  of  them  an  old  man. 

A  full  account  of  the  mechanics  of  Molly  Make-Believe 
would  have  much  to  say  of  capitals,  italic,  dashes  within 
words,  hesitation  hyphens,  and  strange  hyphened  com- 
pounds; also  of  the  ever-present  em  dashes,  question  and 
exclamation  marks,  and  a  considerable  number  of  double 
dashes.  One  cannot  help  wondering  what  the  compositors 
thought  as  they  put  the  book  into  type. 


WORKS  LISTED  IN  TABLES  A,  B,  AND  C 

BENNETT,  ARNOLD.  The  Author's  Craft.  George  H.  Doran  Co.,  New 
York,  1914.  Page  9  to  the  paragraph  break  on  page  57. 

CARLYLE,  THOMAS.  Heroes,  and  Hero-Worship.  Chapman  &  Hall, 
London,  1885.  Lecture  5,  "  The  Hero  as  Man  of  Letters,"  page  127 
to  line  7  from  end  of  page  139. 

CHESTERTON,  GILBERT  K.  Heretics,  sixth  edition.  John  Lane  Co., 
New  York,  1909.  Page  11  to  line  8  from  end  of  page  50. 

The  Christian  Science  Monitor,  Boston.  Editorials  for  November  9, 
1917,  400  points;  February  8,  1918,  first  two  columns,  and  first  30 
points  of  column  3;  May  24,  1918,  first  three  columns. 

CROTHERS,  SAMUEL  McCnoRD.  The  Pleasures  of  an  Absentee  Land- 
lord and  Other  Essays.  Hough  ton  Mifflin  Co.,  Boston,  1916.  Pages 
1-49,  150-159,  and  the  first  2  points  on  page  160. 

EMERSON,  RALPH  WALDO.  Essays:  Second  Series  (vol.  Ill,  River- 
side Edition  of  the  Complete  Works).  Houghton  Mifflin  Co.,  Boston, 
1884.  Pages  49-78,  and  page  79  to  the  sentence  break  in  line  11. 

The  Evening  Post,  New  York.  Editorials  (not  including  matter 
with  the  heading  "At  a  Venture")  for  January  23,  1918,  first  375 
points;  February  1  and  16;  March  26,  first  22  points. 

GALSWORTHY,  JOHN.  A  Sheaf.  Charles  Scribner's  Sons,  New 
York,  1916.  Page  327  to  line  4  of  page  365. 

GIVEN,  JOHN  L.  Making  a  Newspaper.  Henry  Holt  &  Co.,  New 
York,  1907.  Pages  240-273,  and  first  19  lines  of  page  274. 

HANCOCK,  ALBERT  ELMER.  John  Keats.  Houghton  Mifflin  Co., 
Boston,  1908.  Pages  1-36,  and  page  37  to  the  sentence  break  in  line  6. 

JAMES,  HENRY.  A  Small  Boy  and  Others.  Charles  Scribner's 
Sons,  New  York,  1913.  Pages  1-36,  and  the  first  16  lines  of  page  37. 

MORE,  PAUL  ELMER.  Aristocracy  and  Justice.  Houghton  Mifflin 
Co.,  Boston,  1915.  Pages  3-56. 

The  Nation,  New  York.  Editorials  for  January,  1918,  beginning 
with  "  The  Week "  and  ending  with  the  dash  following  the  word 
Gibraltar  in  the  second  column  of  page  83;  for  May  18,  1918,  begin- 
ning with  second  column  of  page  585,  ending  with  line  16  of  second 
column  on  page  588. 

The  New  Republic,  New  York.  Editorials  for  January  26,  1918, 
beginning  with  page  356,  to  line  6  from  end  of  first  column  of  page 
364;  February  2,  1918,  page  3  from  first  paragraph  break,  pages  5-7, 
and  page  8,  first  column,  to  line  22  from  end. 

The  New  York  American.  Editorials,  1918:  January  30;  Feb- 
ruary 1  and  7;  February  8,  omitting  first  paragraph  of  column  2; 
March  11,  22,  23;  March  30,  first  102  points;  May  15. 

The  New  York  Times.  Editorials,  1918:  June  3,  first  18  points; 
June  6,  7,  8. 

257 


258  Modern  Punctuation 

The  New  York  Tribune.  Editorials  1918:  February  1,  14,  21; 
March  18,  to  fifth  paragraph  break  in  second  column. 

The  North  American  Review,  New  York.  Editorials  by  Mr.  George 
Harvey:  October,  1917,  pages  502-520;  January,  1918,  pages  2-8,  and 
page  9  to  the  sentence  break  in  line  9. 

NICHOLSON,  MEREDITH.  The  Provincial  American  and  Other  Pa- 
pers. Houghton  Mifflin  Co.,  Boston,  1912.  Pages  117-172,  and  first 
19  points  on  page  173. 

PATEB,  WALTEB.  Appreciations,  with  an  Essay  on  Style.  The 
Macmillan  Co.,  New  York,  edition  with  title-page  date  1906.  Pages 
1-27,  and  page  28  to  second  comma  in  line  3  from  end. 

REPPLIEB,  AGNES.  Counter-Currents.  Houghton  Mifflin  Co.,  Bos- 
ton, 1916.  Pages  1-61,  64,  and  first  2  points  on  page  65. 

The  Saturday  Evening  Post,  Philadelphia.  Editorials:  September 
8,  1917,  first  200  points;  December  1;  January  5,  1918,  first  200 
points;  February  2;  March  16,  first  two  columns,  and  first  43  points 
in  third  column. 

The  Sun,  New  York.  Editorials,  1918:  March  28;  April  1,  20; 
June  3;  June  4,  first  two  columns,  and  first  23  points  in  third 
column. 

WELLS,  H.  G.  What  Is  Coming?  The  Macmillan  Co.,  New  York, 
1916.  Page  1  to  the  last  sentence  break  on  page  45. 

WHITE,  WILLIAM  ALLEN.  The  Old  Order  Changeth.  The  Mac- 
millan Co.,  New  York,  1910.  Page  1  to  line  10  from  end  of  page  44. 


INDEX 


Abbott,  Eleanor  Hallowell,  253, 
256. 

Abbreviation  pointing,  168  ff. 

Absolute  phrases,  49,  102,  105. 

Accent,  177. 

Accuracy,  5. 

Ade,  George,  165  f. 

Adjectives  in  apposition,  96  f. 

Adverbial  groups,  100  ff. ;  in  ap- 
position, 96  f . ;  modifying 
verb,  position,  90. 

"  Afterthought "  matter,  102, 
114ff. 

Alden,  Henry  Mills,  101  f. 

Aldus  Manutius,  15. 

Alford,  Henry,  29,  121,  189,  225. 

And,  71. 

Antithesis,  67,  202. 

Apostrophe,  30,  158,  170  ff. 

Apposition,  appositives,  83,  95  ff., 
102,  117,  126.  See  also  Quota- 
tions. 

Articles,  149  f. 

Asterism,  19. 

Asterisk,  asterisks,  19,  136,  157, 
183. 

Atherton,  Gertrude,  96. 

Atlantic  Monthly,  10,  105,  140, 
151,  159. 

Authors,  influence  of,  15  f. 

Babbitt,  Irving,  39,  97,  108,  112. 

Bacon,  Francis,  188. 

Bailey,    John,    75,   87,    147,    160, 

161,  196. 

Balance,  79,  80,  81,  201  f. 
Balfour,  A.  J.,  126. 
Batchelder,  E.  A.,  44. 
Bates,  Arlo,  91. 
Beckford,  William,  70. 
Bennett,  Arnold,  12,  39,  41,  50  f., 

55,   62,  64,   68,   76,   87  f.,   104, 


120,   133,    147,    156,    158,    183, 

199,  237,  243,  247,  24'.),  250. 
Beveridge,  A.  J.,  162  f,  219. 
Bible,  168,  188. 
Bleyer,  W.  G.,  57,  84. 
Blythe,  S.  G.,  198. 
Boynton,  Percy  H.,  190,  200,  222. 
Brackets,  30,  109,  113,  158,  163, 

239  f . ;    for    division    numbers, 

240 ;  for  interpolation,  239 ;  for 

secondary     parenthesis,     240 ; 

single  bracket,  240;  with  other 

points,  240. 
Bradley,  Henry,  101. 
Brewster,    William    Tenney,    67, 

213,  236,  238. 
Brown,  Goold,  136. 
Buck,  P.  M.,  Jr.,   118,   152,   154, 

239. 

But,  71.    See  also  Not  and  but. 
Butler,  Samuel,  59,  70,  78,   175, 

183,  187,  191. 

Cairns,  W.  B.,  151,  152. 

Capitalization,  capitals,  20, 
164ff.;  Carlyle's,  245  f.;  for 
clearness,  165;  following  colon, 
65  f.,  194  f.;  for  emphasis,  165; 
beginning  quotation,  160,  162; 
respectful,  165;  satirical,  165; 
for  special  designation,  147, 
148;  topical,  165;  Harold  Bell 
Wright's,  256. 

Carlyle,  Thomas,  14  f.,  242,  243, 
244,  245  f.,  255. 

Carman,  Bliss,  80. 

Century  Dictionary,  24. 

Chapman,  John  Jay,  95,  125, 
137. 

Chesterton,  G.  K.,  12,  40,  72,  86, 
94,  104,  109,  111,  118,  120  f., 
130,  181,  196,  199,  201  f.,  202, 


259 


260 


Index 


204,  207,  220,  223,  243,  247, 
249. 

Chicago  Daily  News,  136,  145. 

Chicago,  University  of.  See  Uni- 
versity of  Chicago  Press. 

Christian  Science  Monitor,  243, 
244,  247,  251,  255. 

Citation.     See  Quotations. 

Clarendon  Press,  159. 

Clark,  Barrett  H.,  223. 

Clauses,  appositive,  97;  bal- 
anced, 81  f.;  elliptical,  68,  83, 
98 ;  main,  48  ff .,  67  ff . ;  paren- 
thetical, lllff.;  relative,  86, 
94  f.;  series,  79,  81;  subordi- 
nate, 48  ff.,  68,  83  f .,  212.  See 
also  Compounding. 

Claxton,  P.  P.,  and  McGinnis, 
James,  188,  198. 

Clearness,  3,  4,  17,  36  f. 

Climax,  79. 

"Closeness  of  relation,"  67. 

Cobb,  Irvin  S.,  12,  67,  198. 

Colby,  F.  M.,  97,  115,  128,  156. 

Collier's  Weekly,  97. 

Collison-Morley,  Lacy,  72. 

Colon,  29,  64  ff.,  92,  93,  99,  104, 
115,  131,  134,  153  f.,  157, 

192  ff.;         anticipatory,        82, 

193  ff.;     arbitrary    uses,    197; 
capital     following,     82;     com- 
pounding,   69,    75,    77,    195  f.; 
paragraph-suspension,        54  f . ; 
series,   121,   196  f.;   with  other 
points,  197. 

Columbia  University  Printing 
Office,  159,  163,  170,  232. 

Comma,  29,  69,  89,  92,  99,  104, 
107,  111,  112,  113,  114,  121, 
125,  133,  134,  152,  153,  154, 
155,  156,  159,  170,  205  ff.;  com- 
pounding, 72ff.,  76  ff.,  79  f ., 
208  ff.;  "ellipsis,"  136  f., 
222  f.;  with  limiting  and  mod- 
ifying groups,  217  ff.;  miscel- 
laneous and  mechanical  uses, 
224;  paragraph-suspension,  54; 
with  preliminary,  parentheti- 
cal, and  afterthought  matter, 
217  ff.;  with  quotations,  220  f  • 
with  series,  119,  123  f.,  212  ff 


for  special  grouping,  221  f . ; 
with  other  points,  224,  233. 

Common  dependence,  124  ff. 

Common  modifier,  80. 

Communication,  25  f . 

Compounding  (clause  coordina- 
tion ) ,  69  ff . ;  with  grammati- 
cal connective,  7  Iff.;  with  log- 
ical connective,  76  ff . ;  without 
connective,  78  ff.  See  also 
Colon,  Comma,  Dash,  Exclama- 
tion mark,  Question  mark, 
Semicolon. 

Compound  words.  See  Hyphen, 
compounding. 

Concise  Oxford  Dictionary,  169. 

Congressional  Record,  145. 

Conjunctions.    See  Connectives. 

Connectives,  71,  77,  81,  100,  120, 
201,  211,  212. 

Convention,  5,  33  ff. 

Conway,  Sir  Martin,  161,  216. 

Cook,  A.  S.,  65,  166. 

Cooper,  F.  T.,  76,  132. 

Coordination,  appearance  of,  80. 
See  also  Compounding  and 
Series. 

"  Correctness,"  4,  6. 

Correlation,  correlatives,  80,  128, 
130  f. 

Crothers,  Samuel  McChord,  147, 
155,  199,  218,  243,  244,  246, 
247,  248,  249. 

Curves,  29,  92,  93,  107,  110,  111, 
112,  113,  116,  119,  158,  234  ff.; 
for  afterthought  groups,  236 ; 
for  credits,  236;  for  division 
numbers,  105  f.,  236  f.;  for  in- 
terpolation, 162,  237;  for 
parenthetical  groups,  107  ff., 
234  f . ;  for  sentences,  53  f .,  236 ; 
with  other  points,  237  ff. 

Custom.     See  Convention. 

Dash,  27,  29,  92,  93,  99,  104,  107, 
110,  111,  112,  113,  114,  115,  119, 
121,  125,  127,  131,  134,  153,  154, 
158,  183,  224  ff.,  255  f.;  with 
afterthought  groups,  115, 
230  f . ;  for  compounding,  69  f ., 
75  f,  83,  227;  for  ellipsis,  164, 


Index 


261 


226  f.;  en  dash.  29,  176,  231; 
as  mid-paragraph  point,  59 ; 
for  paragraph-suspension,  55 ; 
for  preliminary  and  paren- 
thetical matter,  105  ff.,  228  ff.; 
for  series,  119,  121,  227  f.; 
for  special  grouping,  131  ff., 
225  f.;  terminal,  63,  64,  225; 
semi-mechanical  uses,  231 ; 
with  other  points,  231  ff. 

Dates,  108,  223. 

Debates,  reports  of,  145. 

Deland,  Margaret,  153,  158. 

Design,  44  f.,  141. 

De  Vinne,  Theodore  L.,  10,  13  f., 
15,  35,  141,  143  f.,  148  f.,  170, 
173,  174  f.,  194,  221. 

Dial,  22,  76  f.,  196. 

Dialogue,  paragraphing  in,  58. 

Dickinson,  T.  H.,  144. 

Eaton,  Walter  Prichard,  132,  235. 

Economy,  4,  45  f .,  244. 

Editorial  points,  23  f . 

Editorial  writing,  punctuation 
in,  14,  244,.  252  f. 

Educational  Review,  16,  17. 

Ellipsis,  2,  135  ff.,  141,  162  ff. 

Elliptical  groups,  49. 

Em  dash.     See  Dash. 

Emerson,  R.  W.,  243,  247. 

Emerton,  Ephraim,  217. 

Emphasis,  3  f .,  4,  17,  37  ff.,  42, 
49,  57,  88,  114,  115,  131  ff., 
143,  153,  165,  166;  special, 
131  ff. 

Encyclopedia  Britannica,  236. 

Erskine,  John,  63,  126. 

Etc.,  163,  224. 

Etymological  pointing,  24,  168  ff. 

Evening  Post,  New  York,  61,  99, 
123,  156,  198,  217,  221  f.,  229, 
235,  243,  248,  249,  251. 

Evening  Sun,  New  York,  79,  80, 
90,  195. 

Everybody's  Magazine,  65.  191. 

Exclamation  mark,  28,  104,  105, 
106,  156,  160,  189  ff.;  interior, 
70,  190  f.;  interpolated,  109, 
191  f.;  terminal,  61  ff.,  189  f.; 
with  other  points,  192. 


Exclamations,  102. 
Extracts.    See  Quotations. 
Extremes  of  punctuation,  253  ff. 

Figures,  grouping  of,  137  f . ;  for 

words,  169. 

Font  of  punctuation  mark,  45. 
Footnotes,  178  f. 
For,  71. 

Foreign  phrases,  147,  166. 
Francis,  Charles,  177. 
Frequency  of  points,  241  ff. 

Galsworthy,  John,  12,  135,  183, 
191,  203,  204,  226,  243,  248, 
249. 

Garrison,  Wendell  Phillips,  10, 
105,  203,  212,  231. 

Genitive  case,  170f.,  172. 

Genung,  J.  F.,  129. 

Given,  John  L.,  23,  95,  198,  243, 
249. 

Globe,  New  York,  51,  99,  150, 
219. 

Government  Printing  Office,  240. 

Grammar,  relation  to  punctua- 
tion, 6,  31  f. 

"  Grammatical  "  points,  9  f., 
24  ff. 

Greenough,  J.  B.,  and  Kittredge, 
G.  L.,  147. 

Grouping,  21  f.;  special,  131  ff. 

Hackett,  Francis  B.,  117f. 
Hancock,   A.    E.,    226,    230,   243, 

247,  248,  249. 

Harper's  Monthly  Magazine,  153, 

157,  158,  160. 
Harvey,  George,  12,  165,  214,  243, 

248,  249,  251. 

Hazen,  Charles  Lowner,  99,  209, 

215,  222. 

Henry,  Frank  S.,  135,  218. 
Herrick,    Robert,    62,    183,    196, 

227,  237,  250. 
Hesitation,  135  f.,  225  f.    See  also 

Periods,  suspension. 
Hill,  David  Jayne,  153. 
Hobbs,  W.  H.,  62,  130. 
Holliday,  Carl,  187  f. 
Husband,  T.  F.  and  M.  F.  A.,  10. 


262 


Index 


Hyde,  G.  M.,  92,  146. 

Hyphens,  Carlyle's,  246;  com- 
pounding, 13  f.,  31,  172  f., 
175  ff.;  division,  31,  172  ff.; 
suspension,  131,  132,  134  f., 
177. 

Indention,  56. 

Indexes,  178  f. 

Infinitive-phrase  subject,  222. 

Interjections,  191. 

Intermediate  matter.  See  Limit- 
ing and  modifying  groups, 
Parenthesis. 

Interpolation,  109,  141,  162  ff., 
187  f.  See  also  Brackets, 
Curves. 

Interrogation,  interrogation  point. 
See  Question  mark. 

Interruption  pointing,  132  ff., 
225  f. 

Irony,  109  f .,  191  f. 

Italic,  20,  146  f.,  148,  149,  166  ff. 

James,  Henry,  243,  245,  247,  253, 

254,  255. 

Jenson,  Nicholas,  15. 
Jonson,  Ben,  188. 
Judge,  229. 

Ker,  W.  P.,  68,  74,  77,  87,  88,  97, 

101,  105. 
Kittredge,  G.  L.    See  Greenough, 

J.  B. 
Klein,  William  Livingston,  17  f., 

98,  103. 
Krapp,  George  Philip,  184. 

Leacock,     Stephen,     155  f.,     233, 

238 

Leaders,  184. 
Leonard,  S.  A.,  17. 
Leonard,  W.  E.,  187. 
Letters,   in    italic,    167;    section, 

184. 

Lewis,  Roger,  183. 
Limiting  and  modifying  groups, 

85  ff.,  124. 

Lindsay,  Vachel,  64  f.,   182,  220. 
Logan,  J   D.,  11  f. 
"  Long  subject,"  2,  15,  133  f. 


Lounsbury,  Thomas  R.,  63,  84, 
87,  92,  100,  104,  108,  111  f., 
113,  129,  133,  140,  160,  167, 
210. 

Lower-case.      See   Capitalization. 

McGinnis,  James.  See  Claxton, 
P.  P. 

McMurtrie,  Douglas  C.,  231  f. 

Macy,  John,  187,  190,  192,  210, 
218,  220,  235. 

Main-clause  points.  See  Com- 
pounding. 

Mair,  G.  H.,  100,  188. 

Manly,  J.  M.,  and  Powell,  J.  A., 
125. 

Marcosson,  Isaac  F.,  194. 

Marquis,  Don,  132  f. 

Mead,  W.  E.,  104,  113. 

Mid-paragraph,  58  f . 

Miller,  R.  D.,  12,  71,  76. 

Modifiers.  See  Limiting  and 
modifying  groups. 

Monotony,  47. 

Monroe,  Paul,  109. 

Montague,  Margaret  P.,  53  f., 
134. 

Moore,  Ernest  Carroll,  77. 

More,  Paul  Elmer,  50,  77,  82, 
113  f.,  134,  196,  201,  229,  230, 
243,  246,  247,  249,  255. 

Morley,  John,  100,  101,  105,  110, 
111,  129,  212. 

Moses,  Montrose  J.,  195. 

Movement,  4,  40  ff.,  241. 

Moxon,  Joseph,  15. 

Murray,  Sir  James,  138. 

Namely,  etc.,  98,  195. 

Names,  grouping  of,  137  f.,  223; 

proper,  165. 
Nation,    New   York,    123  f.,    198, 

243,  244,  247,  249,  251. 
Neilson,  W.  A.,  137. 
New  English  Dictionary,  19,  168, 

170  f. 
New  Republic,  198,  243,  244,  250, 

249,  251. 
Newspaper     writing,      60,      107. 

See    also    Editorial    pointing; 

Series,  one  conjunction. 


Index 


263 


New    Standard    Dictionary,    24, 

173. 
New    York   American,    198,    243, 

249,  250,  251. 

New  York  Times,  48,  58,  83,  123, 
152,  186,  198,  201,  211,  225  f., 
227,  243,  248,  249,  251. 

New  York  Tribune,  46,  62,  74, 
128,  130,  243,  247,  248,  249, 

250,  251. 

Nicholson,  Meredith,  12,  78,  199, 
225,  227,  235,  243,  249. 

Non-restrictive  modifiers,  85  ff. 

Nor,  71. 

North  American  Review,  152, 
177,  190,  198,  214,  228,  243, 
244,  248,  249,  251,  252. 

Not  and  but,  128,  217. 

Now,  104. 

Numbers,  in  lists,  105  f.;  section, 
184. 

Numerals,  compound,  176. 

Omond,  T.  S.,  81  f.,  158,  222. 
Or,  71,  98. 
Orcutt,  W.  D.,  99. 
Outlook,    114,    123,    134,    161  f., 
211. 


Paragraph,  50 ff.;  ellipsis,  163, 
184;  length,  56;  movement, 
52  f . ;  pointing,  50  ff . ;  struc- 
ture, 58  f . ;  suspension,  54  ff . ; 
unity,  57. 

Paragraphing,  20,  56  ff. 

Parallelism,  52  f . 

Parentheses.    See  Curves. 

Parenthesis,  2,  13,  50,  85,  96,  103, 
106  ff.,  117,  129;  exclamatory, 
191;  interpolated,  109,  162, 
188,  191  f.;  interrogative,  186; 
objectionable,  107,  113;  para- 
graph, 53  f.;  marks  of,  107  ff., 
229  f.,  234;  primary  and  sec- 
ondary, 113f.;  series,  end  of, 
126. 

Particles.  See  Suspended  par- 
ticles. 

Pater,  Walter,  45,  46,  245,  246, 
247,  253,  254,  255. 


Pattee,  Fred  Lewis,  46,  157,  218, 
221. 

Pauses,  suggestion  of,  19. 

Period,  28,  93,  120,  121,  156,  159, 
181  ff.,  193,  194;  abbreviation, 
31,  168  ff.,  184;  ellipsis,  157, 
183;  suspension,  59,  63  f.,  70, 
131,  132  f.,  158,  160,  182,  183, 
248;  terminal,  61,  182;  with 
other  points,  185. 

Phelps,  William  Lyon,  187, 
196  f.,  202,  238. 

Phrases,  48  f . 

Plurals,  171  f. 

Powell,  J.  A.     See  Manly,  J.  M. 

Preliminary  matter,  85,  102, 
103  ff. 

Printers,  printers'  rules,  4  f .,  15. 

Printing,  25  f.,  149. 

Proper  adjectives  and  names,  165. 

Publishers,  influence  of,  15. 

Punctuation,  considerations  in, 
33  ff.;  difficulty  of,  1;  elocu- 
tionary, 9 ;  extremes  of,  253  ff. ; 
logical  method  of,  13;  mean- 
ings of  term,  19;  modern,  13; 
nature  of,  19  ff. ;  paragraph, 
relation  to,  32,  52  f . ;  problems 
of,  33  ff.;  rules  of,  2  f .,  5,  6; 
structural,  24  f . ;  system  in, 
13;  types  of,  241  ff.;  works  on, 
7  ff.  See  also  Afterthought 
matter,  Brackets,  Capitals, 
Clearness,  Clauses,  Colon, 
Comma,  Convention,  Curves, 
Dash,  Design,  Economy,  El- 
lipsis, Emphasis,  Etymological 
pointing,  Exclamation  mark, 
Grouping,  Italic,  Limiting  and 
modifying  groups,  Movement, 
Paragraph,  Parenthetical  mat- 
ter, Period,  Preliminary  mat- 
ter, Quotations,  Quote  marks, 
Reference  pointing,  Semi- 
colon, Sentences,  Series,  Sus- 
pension, Variety. 

Question,  indirect,  61. 

Question  mark,  28,  156,  160, 
185ff.;  interior,  186f.;  inter- 
polated or  parenthetical,  187; 


264 


Index 


series  or  compounding,  187; 
terminal,  61  ff.,  186;  with 
other  points,  188  f. 

Quotations,  139  ff.;  ellipsis  from, 
141,  162  ff.;  indirect,  140;  in- 
terruption and  resumption  of, 
154ff.;  points  before,  152;  sec- 
ondary, 150  f.,  160;  self-con- 
scious, 142;  series  of,  161; 
without  quote  marks,  143  ff. 

Quote  marks,  13,  21,  30,  44  f., 
139ff.,  166;  for  special  desig- 
nation, 146ff.;  omission  of 
143 ff.;  repetition  of,  151  f.; 
with  other  marks,  156  ff . 

Ralph,  Julian,  211. 

Reference  pointing,  reference  in- 
dexes, 44,  46,  178  f. 

Relative  clauses.    See  Clauses. 

Repetition,  118,  121. 

Repplier,  Agnes,  12,  32,  53;  71, 
79,  83  f.,  94  f.,  110,  136  f.,  199, 
243,  247  f.,  249. 

Restrictive  modifiers,  85  ff. 

Rhetoric,  rhetorical,  9,  25,  26. 

Rindge,  F.  H.,  Jr.,  157,  160. 

Robertson,  J.  G.,  87,  88,  91,  147. 

Robinson,  James  Harvey,  73,  109, 
121,  127,  206  f.,  217,  219,  232. 

Rogers,  Jason,  112. 

Roman  ordinals,  169. 

Roman  type,  147,  148,   165,  167. 

Ross,  C.  G.,  235. 

Rourke,  Constance  M.,  16,  206, 
216. 

Salutation  of  letter,  105,  228  f . 

Santayana,  George,  91,  201,  222. 
226. 

Saturday  Evening  Post,  12,  52, 
71  f.,  74  f.,  80,  82,  98,  150,  194, 
198,  243,  244,  247,  248,  249, 
251. 

Schelling,  F.  E.,  100. 

Schoolroom  tradition,  4,  5  f. 

Seitz,  D.  C.,  143,  155,  198,  228. 

#eJ/-compounds,  176. 

Semicolon,  29,  37,  92,  93,  94, 
121  f.,  127,  155,  157,  188, 
197  ff.;  appositive,  98,  203  f.; 


compounding,  69,  72,  74  f.,  77, 
81,  200 ff.;  paragraph,  54;  se- 
ries, 119,  202  f.;  with  other 
points,  204  f . 

Sentences,  48,  67,  95,  97;  com- 
plete, 6  Iff.;  compound,  2, 
67  ff.;  declarative,  61  f.;  el- 
liptical, 60,  122;  exclamatory, 
62  f.;  interrogative,  61  f., 
185  f.;  length,  60  f.;  mixed 
type,  63;  newspaper,  60;  sus- 
pension of,  64  ff . ;  terminal 
pointing  of,  59  ff . ;  terminal - 
point  percentages,  242  ff. ;  in- 
complete, 63. 

Series,  73,  117ff.,  119;  dis- 
guised, 130;  end  of,  127,  216; 
open,  213;  suspended,  128  f., 
216  f.;  with  one  conjunction, 
73,  123  f.,  214  ff.;  without  con- 
junction, 215  f. 

Shakespeare,  William,  13,  188. 

Shaw,  George  Bernard,  30. 

Sherbow,  Benjamin,  52  f.,  131. 

Sherman,  L.  A.,  83,  215. 

Sherman,  Stuart  P.,  12,  40,  82, 
115,  121,  146,  152,  162,  196, 
202. 

Shift  of  structure,  134,  225  f . 

Ships,  names  of,  147. 

Shuman,  E.  L.,  107. 

Side-heads,  184,  232. 

Simpson,  Percy,  12  f. 

Slosson,  Edwin  E.,  59,  96,  217. 

Smith,  C.  Alphonso,  81. 

Smith,  L.  P.,  94,  95,  111,  167, 
169  f. 

80,  with  compounding  comma,  76, 
78. 

Space,  spacing.    See  White  space. 

Spingarn,  J.  E.,  134,  201. 

Splitting  of  particles.  See  Sus- 
pended particles. 

Standard  Dictionary.  See  New 
Standard  Dictionary. 

Structural  punctuation,  23  f .,  25. 

Strunsky,  Simeon,  71,  116,  144, 
201. 

Style,  41,  45. 

Sun,  New  York,  68,  96,  198,  211, 
217,  243,  249,  251. 


Index 


265 


Superior  figures  and  letters,  178. 
Survivals,  27. 
Suspended  particles,  129. 
Suspension,  40,  41,  104,  106,  114, 

131  if.,  154,  206  f. 
Suspension  periods.     See  Period, 

suspension. 
Swift,  E.  J.,  38. 
Syllabic  points,  9.     See  Hyphen, 

division. 

Syllables,  division  into,  173  f. 
Syntax,     See  Grammar. 

Teall,  F.  Horace,  232. 
Telegrams,  punctuation  of,  37. 
Terminal  points,  59  ff . 
That    (relative  pronoun),  94. 
Thayer,  W.  R.,  52. 
Thorndike,  A.  H.,  230. 
Thorpe,  Merle,  162. 
Times   (London),  150. 
Titles,  literary,  147,  148  ff. 
Today,  tonight,  tomorrow,  177. 
Traditions  in  punctuation,  4  ff. 
Transitional      expressions,      106. 

See  also  Connectives. 
Transposition,  89  f. 
Traubel,  Horace,  253,  254  f . 
Trezise,  F.  J.,  40,  129. 
Typography.     See  Printing. 

Uniformity.    See  Convention. 
University  of  Chicago  Press,  18, 

92,  96,  99,   151,  157,  159,  163, 

174,  232,  236. 
Usage.    See  Convention. 

Vaka,  Demetra,  97. 
Variety,  4,  47,  253. 


Verb,  in  apposition,  96  f . ;  object 
of,  23;  subject  of,  23;  sup- 
pression of,  83,  136  f..  222  f. 

Vocatives,  102,   105,   106. 

Ward,  C.  H.,  8,  14  ff .,  75. 
War  Thrift,  80. 
Watson,  William,  75. 
Watterson,  Henry,  198. 
Webster's      New      International 

Dictionary,  24. 
Weight  of  points,  38  f . 
Wells,   H.   G.,   50,   59,    120,    126, 

160,  183,  188  f.,  216,  236,  243, 

247,  249,  252. 
Wharton,    Edith,    64,    155,    160, 

183,  220,  252. 

Which  (relative  pronoun),  94. 
White,  William  Allen,   198,  220, 

243,  247,  249,  250. 
White  space,  25  f .,  44,  56,  138. 
Whitlock,  Brand,  65,  191. 
Who   (relative  pronoun),  94. 
Wilson,    John,    7  ff.,    14,    75,    89, 

98. 
Wilson,  Woodrow,   63,   118,   120, 

122,  127  f.,  129  f. 
Winchester,  C.  T.,  82,  83. 
Words,  as  words,  167;  with  defi- 
nition, 167. 

"  Working  principles,"   3  f. 
World,  New  York,  90,  91,  185f. 
World's  Work,  183. 
Wright,    Harold   Bell,    216,    253, 

255  f. 

Yard,  R.  S.,  92,  155. 
Yes,  105. 
Yet,  76f. 


VITA* 

The  author  of  the  accompanying  dissertation  was  born 
in  Covington,  Kentucky,  on  March  17,  1880.  He  was  pre- 
pared for  college  in  the  public  schools  of  Chester,  South 
Carolina.  In  1897  he  was  graduated  from  the  South- 
western Presbyterian  University,  at  Clarksville,  Tennessee, 
with  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts,  and  was  subsequently 
a  graduate  student  at  the  same  institution.  He  was  a 
student  at  the  University  of  Leipzig  during  the  winter 
semester  of  1901-1902  and  at  Columbia  University  dur- 
ing the  session  of  1917-1918.  The  dissertation  was  com- 
pleted at  Columbia  University  under  the  advice  of  Pro- 
fessor George  Philip  Krapp. 

*  Included  only  in  the  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  copies  printed 
as  a  dissertation. 


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